St. John's Tip Off

[SJHooper]

Some takeaways:

Briscoe:
-Was donning a SJ hat and seen mingling with Harrison and getting lots of pictures with the guys
-Man does this kid have an ego…some fans were chanting his name and he basically yelled at them and corrected them
-Just seeing his attitude is making me feel less confident in landing him and if we do land him it almost raises a red flag with the attitude…now of course I just saw him this one time but I must say I got a bad gut feeling and he seemed to be very egotistical (again, could be wrong)

Lavin:
-Pulled some of the players aside during the dunk contest and told them to cool it…he didn't want them getting hurt
-Really seems to win the players over…appears to be a father figure out there and they love him
-Claimed he would "bring a Big East title where it belongs back to NYC"

De La Rosa:
-This kid is huge and not just his 7 foot height…I knew he was a bit overweight from some pictures but man he looks pretty chubby in person he has to lose a lot of weight
-His frame alone will help us regardless
-Should be fun seeing him and his bro together they were loving it tonight

Thomas:
-This kid is a tank…absolute tank. Call him "just a JUCO player" or whatever but this kid has a Big East body and Mount Vernon toughness. I think he will pleasantly surprise us.

Diallo:
-We were chanting his name and he came over to shake hands with us
-Very quiet kid
-Was on the phone during tipoff and it wasn't Lavin so that bothered me

Sampson:
-Hung out near Briscoe and were seen talking but Sampson had a straight face on all night. Maybe he's always mild mannered and very calm, but I was surprised he didn't look more pumped

Other Takeaways:
-The ushers are terrible…there were probably 10 people in the aisle standing while others of us were sitting in an aisle seat so we were being totally blocked. Of course the guys were 6'4 standing in the aisles too. I had to stand just to see the players and I asked ushers why they were letting them block the aisle but it was clear he knew them so he turned a blind eye. Oy.

-Absolutely packed…admittedly the free French Montana concert seemed to bring a lot, but both sides of the gym are usually not open for this. Tonight both sides were open and both were totally full with the exception of maybe one bench on the very upper corner. Very impressive.

-Too many SJ fans are just "hey going to a game would be fun" fans. In other words, most of the people there don't even understand recruiting or anything in that depth. I started a "We want Briscoe" chant and people looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe 30-40 of us knew anything about the recruits and what a big deal they were. SJ needs more diehard fans, not just fans who are curious and come out for mere entertainment without caring who wins.

-Harrison and Jordan are great kids. Harrison especially is the life of this team. Always smiling and joking, interacting with fans taking pictures with us, coming into the crowd, giving his shirt away, and just taking it all in. Going to miss him a ton.

God I hope we get some or all (even better) of these recruits. We need them so badly if Lavin whiffs on these kids the end can be near for him and the program is in the Big East basement.

[SJHooper]

Crowd…not shabby huh? You have to admit that's impressive for a program that has been to about 2 NCAA tourney's in the last two decades


New shirts…I think they are great and even got an extra!


Harrison was having a great time hanging with fans and taking pictures of the crowd


New York Paparazzi! Can't escape us. Briscoe sighting! (Red SJ hat talking to Harrison)


Sorry for bad quality, the lighting was crazy and it's an iPhone 4.


http://youtu.be/Dqjjw43W2aI

[Amase2]

Some takeaways:

Briscoe:
-Was donning a SJ hat and seen mingling with Harrison and getting lots of pictures with the guys
-Man does this kid have an ego…some fans were chanting his name and he basically yelled at them and corrected them
-Just seeing his attitude is making me feel less confident in landing him and if we do land him it almost raises a red flag with the attitude…now of course I just saw him this one time but I must say I got a bad gut feeling and he seemed to be very egotistical (again, could be wrong)

Lavin:
-Pulled some of the players aside during the dunk contest and told them to cool it…he didn't want them getting hurt
-Really seems to win the players over…appears to be a father figure out there and they love him
-Claimed he would "bring a Big East title where it belongs back to NYC"

De La Rosa:
-This kid is huge and not just his 7 foot height…I knew he was a bit overweight from some pictures but man he looks pretty chubby in person he has to lose a lot of weight
-His frame alone will help us regardless
-Should be fun seeing him and his bro together they were loving it tonight

Thomas:
-This kid is a tank…absolute tank. Call him "just a JUCO player" or whatever but this kid has a Big East body and Mount Vernon toughness. I think he will pleasantly surprise us.

Diallo:
-We were chanting his name and he came over to shake hands with us
-Very quiet kid
-Was on the phone during tipoff and it wasn't Lavin so that bothered me

Sampson:
-Hung out near Briscoe and were seen talking but Sampson had a straight face on all night. Maybe he's always mild mannered and very calm, but I was surprised he didn't look more pumped

Other Takeaways:
-The ushers are terrible…there were probably 10 people in the aisle standing while others of us were sitting in an aisle seat so we were being totally blocked. Of course the guys were 6'4 standing in the aisles too. I had to stand just to see the players and I asked ushers why they were letting them block the aisle but it was clear he knew them so he turned a blind eye. Oy.

-Absolutely packed…admittedly the free French Montana concert seemed to bring a lot, but both sides of the gym are usually not open for this. Tonight both sides were open and both were totally full with the exception of maybe one bench on the very upper corner. Very impressive.

-Too many SJ fans are just "hey going to a game would be fun" fans. In other words, most of the people there don't even understand recruiting or anything in that depth. I started a "We want Briscoe" chant and people looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe 30-40 of us knew anything about the recruits and what a big deal they were. SJ needs more diehard fans, not just fans who are curious and come out for mere entertainment without caring who wins.

-Harrison and Jordan are great kids. Harrison especially is the life of this team. Always smiling and joking, interacting with fans taking pictures with us, coming into the crowd, giving his shirt away, and just taking it all in. Going to miss him a ton.

God I hope we get some or all (even better) of these recruits. We need them so badly if Lavin whiffs on these kids the end can be near for him and the program is in the Big East basement.

Good stuff, but would be careful painting with such a large brush on a high school senior who was perhaps the biggest star at the event.

Any comments on Jones, Balamou, or Alibegovic?

Thanks

[SJHooper]

I know he's only a HS kid…hell I'd probably have a big ego too if I was 18 and being recruited by UK, UConn, etc. and fans begging me to come. Not even sure if it was really an ego thing I only heard him telling the fans how to pronounce his name after they began chanting it and he was kind of shaking his head as if offended but again could just be playful. Don't read too much into it. He also tried getting up close to French Montana clearly enjoying the performance when a security guard stopped him and he had to explain who he was. That was embarrassing.

Jones really did not do much at all…in anything. Wasn't in the dunk contest, didn't see the ball in the scrimmage, so really just saw him introduced that's the extent of it.

The new kid from the Italian team is big and looked more muscular than I was expecting which was a pleasant surprise. Didn't really see much action either but during the scrimmage the first time he got the ball he went to dunk it which was a disaster and of course brought all the white boy jokes. Really didn't see anything else. He had a few layups no big deal really.

Not sure Balamou was even in the scrimmage…or announced at all come to think of it. Don't think he even existed last night which is weird now that I realize it.

Myles Stewart was stroking it from 3 and has a sweet shot. I think he will surprise lots of people if he sees any minutes. Jordan and Harrison were also locked in from 3 PT range. It's also very clear that Obekpa is much more aggressive and confident offensively. He has made big strides.

De La Rosa also showed soft touch making a few shots about 10 ft from the hoop, also dunking and laying up a few. Again, he has to lose weight. Huge kid though…he made 6'2 Phil Greene look like a midget.

[SJHooper]

7 ft De La Rosa making the 6'2 Greene look like his son


Stewart showing his range

View My Video

[FormulaX]

Thanks for the report. Although, I do loathe the idea of hearing about them for the next 2 years. I do hope that lavin can close a couple of them. Go Big East,

[marquette]

I don't know what a French Montana is, but it sounds like a great event. Thanks for sharing the insight.

[SJHooper]

I don't know what a French Montana is, but it sounds like a great event. Thanks for sharing the insight.

Haha he is one of the most prominent NYC rappers out there right now and is closely affiliated with P. Diddy. He's in his prime nationally right now. Last year we got Lupe Fiasco whose career peaked 10 years before so this was a major upgrade. Last year everyone left when Lupe came out. This year everyone stayed and the house came down. You know you got a good guy when even the players get giddy seeing him.

It was great and the place was totally packed out. The only thing I'm nervous about now are the recruits. None of them really seemed to outwardly express how excited they were. Hopefully they just don't show a lot of emotion.