BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: ST. JOHN'S

November 13, 2008


COMMITMENT ALERT: Dwight Hardy, 6-foot-3 guard from Indian Hills (IA) CC, originally from the Bronx.

According to Indian Hills CC coach Jeff Kidder, St. John's helped 6-foot-2 guard Dwight Hardy find his way from John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx to Indian Hills Community College in Iowa after High School. Now, Hardy will return home to NYC as Hardy to St. John's (ZagsBlog.net) is official as he signed a letter of intent yesterday, the first day of the early signing period.


Projected 2009-2010 Roster:

Seniors: None
Juniors: Justin Burrell (PF), Malik Boothe (PG), Rob Thomas (F), Ayodele Coker (C), Paris Horne (G), DJ Kennedy (G), Sean Evans (F), Dwight Hardy (G)
Sophomores: Quincy Roberts (G), Ty Edmondson (PG), Phil Wait (C)
Freshmen: Malik Stith (PG), Omari Lawrence (SG)




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Things have not gone well for St. John's. Last season marked another of no post-season which was filled with embarrassing losses at Madison Square Garden. This season, again, they are picked near the bottom of the conference.

Norm Roberts Looks to Take Back NYC on the recruiting trail and he has needed a recruiting victory to keep the local talent home and increase SJU's college basketball odds of winning. So, the news from this past summer of Omari Lawrence's commitment should not be taken lightly as it could be a sign of things to come. With an upgrade in local connections for his coaching staff, the embattled SJU coach hopes this is just the beginning.

Now comes the news that the Redstorm will have another local product join the program for the 2009-2010 season as former John F Kennedy guard Dwight Hardy will come back east to finish his college eligibility. Hardy has been playing for JUCO power Indian Hills CC in Iowa for coach Jeff Kidder the last two seasons.

“Dwight Hardy is a great teammate, a great student," coach Kidder told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.net. "He will have a terrific two years at St. John’s after he’s done here.”

At JFK in the Bronx, Hardy was a scorer extraorinaire, averaging nearly 40 points a game as a senior. St. John's helped him find his way to Kidder's program and have stayed in touch every since. The Redstorm have had trouble scoring, so a big-time scorer like Hardy is worth adding, even if it really jams up the projected junior class of the projected 2009-2010 roster. Hardy, on paper, makes eight players in that class, with no seniors. Something has to give...

With Omari Lawrence, SJU is getitng a very athletic guard that can defend and attack the basket. Lawrence is improving on his guard skill set, meaning his ball handling, decision making and shooting, so his upside potential is quite impressive. However, the biggest impact he might have is being the 'first' to commit and could lead to others.


Lawrence was actually the second 2009 commitment for the Redstorm as Malik Stith, a native of Long Island, committed to St. John's early this spring after completing his senior season at East Mecklenberg High School in North Carolina. Stith will prep one season at Bridgton Academy, the same institution that has sent current SJU players Paris Horne and Justin Burrell to the Redstorm program.

Stith had a big season at East Mecklenberg and his play this spring for the United Celtics impressed the St. John's staff enough to earn a scholarship offer. Others involved with Stith at this point were Wichita State, Winthrop and George Mason, but more would have been involved if they knew his academic situation and that he would be in the class of 2009.

Stith, the Southwestern 4A player of the year, made the boys all-state first team in North Carolina as he led East Mecklenberg to the class 4-A North Carolina High School basketball championship by scoring 20 points in the final game, a 72-63 win over Apex. He also added 7 steals, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the game and his ability to handle the ball was the key component to running out the clock. Stith is a very good ball handler who is exceptionally quick with the ball. He will be a perfect compliment to Malik Boothe and give SJU another top-notch ball handler.

However, murmurs have grown louder and louder that Stith might not be joining the Redstorm program for 2009-2010 and at this moment, it would register as somewhat of a surprise if a letter of intent is received by SJU in the early signing period. With that news, one scholarship still remains open for SJU.

The biggest name attachec to St. John's recruiting efforts remains Lance Stephenson, the uber-talented 6-foot-5 guard from Lincoln (NYC) High School. 'Born Ready' has been in the spotlight as the 'nect one' from NYC for several years and the baggage that can be accumulated with having that title has certainly attached itself to Stephenson. Many do believe, however, if he does decide to play college basketball, staying in NYC and playing for St. John's is a real possibility. However, an equally possible scenario is Stephenson following a similar path of Brandon Jennings and playing professionally overseason out of high school in preparation for his future NBA career.

With the likely scenario of an open scholarship in the spring, St. John's will likely wait on Stephenson. They would also be wise to follow some available point guards and could be in the mix for players such as DeAndre kane of the Patterson school, a former high school teammate of DJ Kennedy, and Trinity Catholic (CT) High School forward Tevin Baskin, who recently told NBE he is 're-opning' his recruitment and will be a hot spring commodity for schools with an open scholarship.


Roberts recently received a vote of confidence from the St. John's administration, hoping to give him a lift on the recruiting trail, and signed a new rollover contract. However, the uncertainty of his future still hangs over the program like a 'storm cloud' and will continue to handcuff his recruiting. The recent hirings of Kimani Young and Oswald Cross do give the Redstorm a much more positive image and influence in NYC circles and the impact should be felt in 2009, and has been with the commitment of Lawrence, as well as 2010 as Jayvaughn Pinkston, Ashton Pankey and Devon Collier all played under Young on the AAU circuit this past year and SJU has made an early pitch for players such as Doron Lamb and others with NYC ties. Of course, as luck would have it, the scholarship situation for 2010 is very unclear for SJU with possibly, on paper, none available unless players leave the program. Players leaving the program has been a regular occurrence and with the large number of projected juniors on the roster for the 2009-2010 squad, something very well could happen to open up a couple spots for the class of 2010.

We will see if this indeed is the spawning of a new Redstorm.