Sports

St. John’s: We have the best backcourt in the country

The basketball opener is more than a month away for St. John’s, but the Red Storm’s swagger is in midseason form.

Take senior guard Phil Greene IV, for instance, who was asked if the Johnnies have the best backcourt in the Big East.

“The country,” he said emphatically during St. John’s Dribble for the Cure cancer fundraiser event on campus Saturday afternoon. “You see it every day in practice. We compete at a high level…Versatile. Each of us brings different skills to the game and to our team. That’s what makes us such a deep backcourt.”

Greene was the first to make the bold proclamation, but he was backed firmly by fellow senior guards D’Angelo Harrison and Jamal Branch.

The trio, in tandem with immensely talented sophomore Rysheed Jordan, should be a force, a quartet of mostly interchangeable parts coach Steve Lavin said he may use together when he looks to push the tempo.

“You can’t guard none of us one-on-one,” Harrison said. “Our last year, we’re going out with a bang.

“We got four years now. I know them almost better than [some members of my] family. I know how hard they play, I know how hard they work. Y’all see the first game. … We’re going to be a hell of a team.”

When reminded their critics would say they have yet to reach an NCAA Tournament with the same players, Branch said: “See if they say that at the end of this year.”

There is basis for the confidence from the backcourt. Harrison, who won the Haggerty Award — given to the top player in the Metropolitan area — is 10th all-time in program history in scoring with 1,601 career points. Jordan, an electric athlete and underrated shooter, is considered an NBA prospect and potential first-round pick.

Branch emerged late last season as a capable playmaker while Greene has become a reliable 3-point shooter and consistent scoring threat.

The question marks for St. John’s are in the frontcourt, where the team lost JaKarr Sampson, Orlando Sanchez and God’sgift Achiuwa, and replaced them with junior college forward Keith Thomas — who led the junior college ranks in rebounding — former Christ the King High School star Adonis Delarosa, Serbian stretch forward Amar Alibegovic and redshirt sophomore Christian Jones.

Despite the uncertainty in the paint, Lavin feels he finally has the senior leadership needed to be a factor in March. The hunger to succeed reminds him of his first team at St. John’s in 2010, when the Red Storm reached the Big Dance after a nine-year hiatus.

“I have confidence in this upcoming season because I’ve seen the development of our five seniors and I know how important leadership is,” Lavin said. ”When I look back at my career, the years we had strong seniors have been our best seasons.”

Considering this group has yet to reach the NCAA Tournament, it’s now or never for them. There is no next year for the self-described best backcourt in the country.

“Honestly, making the tournament isn’t enough for us,” senior wing Sir’Dominic Pointer said. “We have to go to the tournament and win some games.”


St. John’s hosted prized New Jersey junior guard Temple Gibbs on Saturday and offered the Seton Hall Prep standout a scholarship, according to a source. … Lavin announced former walk-on, senior Khadim Ndiaye, is now on scholarship.