Emotions will be running high Saturday afternoon at the Garden.
It will be the final regular-season home game for five St. John's seniors, with hated rival Georgetown in town and a win needed to all but seal an NCAA Tournament bid.
It will be a particularly poignant game for D'Angelo Harrison, Sir'Dominic Pointer and Phil Greene IV — the last remnants of coach Steve Lavin's blockbuster recruiting class four years ago.
"I'm going to cry, I'm not going to lie," Harrison said.
Pointer said: "It's an emotional night for all of us. We came here all together and we're all leaving together. Lots of people don't make it this far with each other, and we made it all four years. We're family. We've been here for four years, and we just became brothers. We'll be with each other for the rest of our lives."
The three spent Thursday's media availability finishing each other's sentences, laughing at each other's jokes, smirking at one another like grade-school children. Pointer and Greene each will have approximately 10 family members and friends in attendance. Harrison's family just left town, but he won't feel alone.
"I'll be out there with Dom and Phil's [family]," Harrison said.
They have an incredibly strong bond, the three that never left, closing in on their second straight 20-win season and first NCAA Tournament berth. Maurice Harkless and JaKarr Sampson bolted early for the NBA, God'sgift Achiuwa graduated, Norvel Pelle never qualified to play college basketball, Nurideen Lindsey transferred, and Amir Garrett is now a highly rated pitching prospect in the Reds' minor league system.
"These are the last of the Mohicans," Lavin said. "That first recruiting class will always hold a special place in my heart."
They promised to remain close after graduating, take trips together and talk frequently. Of course, Harrison, Greene and Pointer will go their separate ways this spring, potentially to the NBA, likely overseas, to make a living out of basketball.
D'Angelo Harrison says the St. John's seniors want to finish their careers with an NCAA Tournament bid.Photo: Paul J. Bereswill
This is their chance to leave a legacy, to become just the second St. John's team in 13 years to reach the NCAA Tournament. That Georgetown is standing in the Red Storm's way only adds to Saturday's festivities.
"They're coming here to try to ruin our senior night," Pointer said. "We can't let that happen. … No love lost for them. I like a couple of people on the team, I just don't like the team."
It hasn't necessarily been an easy road. During their freshmen year, Lavin missed all but two games while battling prostate cancer, and they were forced to play marathon minutes due to Lindsey transferring after nine games and the ineligibility of Sampson, Pelle and Garrett. A promising sophomore season came to a thud late, when Harrison was suspended by Lavin for attitude problems. Last season, when they failed to reach the field of 68, was a disappointment.
"Their experience the last four years has been very New York — tough times, challenging times — but it's a group that just continues to move forward, forge ahead in a very admirable way, not only in college degrees, but in terms of the numbers [they've put up]," Lavin said. "I could stay up here five hours talking about each one of them individually and their journey that is so unique, from the time we recruited them to their arrivals to where they are now, as they come down the home stretch to the finish line."
The three never wavered in their commitment to St. John's (19-9, 8-7), and now are within a few victories of seeing all that hard work pay off. They don't plan on saying "what if" years from now.
"We want to make sure that this group that came in together [four years ago] stays the course and finishes on the highest note possible, and that starts on Saturday," Harrison said. "Honestly, [making the NCAA Tournament] means everything — everything. It's the only thing I want to do, it's the only thing we haven't done as group.
"And once we get there, we know we can make noise. We just have to get there first."
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