BIG EAST RECRUITING UPDATE: ST. JOHN'S

May 15, 2009


COMMITMENT ALERT: Justin Brownlee, 6-foot-7 forward from Chipola (FL) Junior College

St. John's has finished off their recruiting class of 2009 with the addition of JUCO forward Justin Brownlee of Chipola JC. Brownlee Rounds out St. John's 2009-10 Recruiting Class (RedStormsports) as he signed a LOI this week with Norm Roberts' program.


Projected 2009-2010 Roster:

Seniors: Anthony Mason, Jr. (SF)
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), Justin Brownlee (F)
Sophomores: Quincy Roberts (G)
Freshmen: Malik Stith (PG), Omari Lawrence (SG)



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St. John's added a quality spring time addition with Justin Brownlee signing a letter of intent with the Redstorn. Brownlee played this past season at JUCO powerhouse Chipola (FL) on a strong squad that has also sent Malcolm Armstead to Oregon, Casey Mitchell to West Virginia, Gary Flowers to the NBA draft, among others.

Brownlee averaged just over 10 points a game and nearly 6 rebounds for the 34-2 Indians this past season. Chipola finished third in the NJCAA Division I national tournament. Brownlee scored 20 points in their third-place game.

Brownlee is a native of Tifton (GA) and played high school ball at Covenant Christian. Many remember his 2007 run on the AAU circuit with the Smyrna Stars that put his name in the mix for some natonal top 100 recruiting lists. After starting his JUCO career as San Francisco City College, Brownlee spent this past season at Chipola playing for coach Gary Heiar.

Brownlee is the second JUCO addition in the 2009 recruiting class, joining former John F. Kennedy guard Dwight Hardy. hardy comes back east to finish his college eligibility as he 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.

Of the 13 scholarship players on the projected 2009-2010 season, nine of them will be juniors in terms of eligibility. It is just about an unheard of situation, which also leaves SJU with a single scholarship available for the 2010 class.

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 perception in the Big Apple. So, the news from last 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.

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.

Joining Lawrence, Hardy and Brownlee in the 2009-2010 incoming class is Malik Stith, a native of Long Island, who committed to St. John's early last spring after completing his senior season at East Mecklenberg High School in North Carolina. Stith prepped 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 the time of his commitment were Wichita State, Winthrop and George Mason, but more would have been involved if they knew his academic situation and that he would moving to 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 grew louder and louder that Stith might not be joining the Redstorm program for 2009-2010 and as the early signing period passed, Stith did not sign and it looked like both parties had moved on.

However, in April, Stith took a visit to St. John's and then narrowed his choices to LaSalle and the Redstorm. With guard Ty Edmondson transferring from the SJU program and center Phil Wait also leaving, SJU had a couple scholarships open and Stith accepted their offer.

Stith scored 18 points and earned MVP honors as Bridgton beat South Kent and future teammate Omari Lawrence 89-85 to win the NEPSAC Class A Championship this past March.

With the commitment accepted from Brownlee, the biggest name attached to St. John's recruiting efforts, Lance Stephenson, is now officially out of the picture for the Redstorm. Several times it looked as 'Born Ready' was on the verge of commiting to SJU, but the pledge never game and reports that he was no longer considering staying close to home have been confirmed.

The hirings last spring of Kimani Young and Oswald Cross do give the Redstorm a much more positive image and influence in NYC circles and the impact was felt in 2009, with the commitment of Lawrence, and could pay off more in the future as 2010 prospects such 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. Young recently left the SJU program to help his family deal with the sudden and tragic passing of his wife. Even in the brief year he worked at SJU, the positive effect it had on the NYC area in it's perception of Roberts' program was helped trmendously. Young is now back with the New Heights AAU program, but the door has at least been opened with SJU once again.

Of course, as luck would have it, the scholarship situation for 2010 is very unclear for SJU with possibly, on paper, just one 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. This past sprng saw Ty Edmondson and Phil Wait leave the program.

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