Officials Leave Court Before St. John's-Rutgers Game Ends. Big East: Game Is Over

In what has to be one of the most embarrassing moments in Big East Tournament history, game officials left the Madison Square Garden court with 1.7 seconds remaining in the game after a player traveled,  stepped out-of-bounds and then threw the game ball into the air.   St. John's was the lucky recipient of the missed call and won the second-round game over Rutgers, 65-63.

The bizarre sequence of events began on a full-court Rutgers inbounds pass, with 4.9 seconds remaining, which was tipped away to St. John's forward Justin Brownlee who dribbled towards the Red Storm bench to shake head coach Steve Lavin's hand but took three steps, touched the sideline and hurled the ball into the air on the way.  While the clock should have been stopped with 1.7 showing on the clock, two veteran officials, James Burr and Tim Higgins, rushed from the court as Rutgers players pleaded and pointed at the clock.  Nothing was discussed.

The non-call which would have given the ball back to Rutgers by either Brownlee stepping out-of-bounds or a travelling call was not the real issue.  Throwing the ball into the stands with time on the clock is a technical foul and would have given the Scarlet Knights two free throws AND the ball.

Lavin, said he didn't see the clock and none of the opposing players or coaches said anything to him during the final handshakes and the frantic play of both teams during the final seconds made it easy for the refs to miss a call.  He would only say that both teams "played their fannies off."

The Red Storm escaped with the win and Rutgers was basically robbed on a couple of other non-calls during the sloppy final minutes.

What's more amazing is the fact that the officials scurried off the court while Rutgers players stood in front of them and pointed out the discretion.  The officials didn't even consider looking at the videotapes.

Conspiracy theorists are having a field day.  Some are accusing the Big East of trying to set up a dream quarterfinal re-match between #4 Syracuse and the local favorites #5 St. John's.  It would be the Red Storm's first Big East quarterfinal game since 2003.

Others are looking at the over/under of 127.5 as a reason for the "muffed" calls, as if Tim Donahay was calling the game and the fix was in.

For now it looks like St. John's will move on in the tournament while Rutgers fans scream and protest the swallowed whistle.  The Big East will not put the two teams on the court tonight and said the game is over.

According to the Mike Francesa Show, the Big East released a statement after the game which said there were "two separate missed calls which occurred during the game...neither error is correctable or reviewable.  The two missed calls were traveling and stepping out of bounds."

Steve Lavin Wraps Up Top 5 Recruiting Class With A Big Man

By Tony Mangia

St. John's capped off what is being called one of the top-five basketball recruiting classes in the country and, without question, the most anticipated in the university's history. Yesterday, head coach Steve Lavin got a verbal-commitment from one of the country's top big men to join the five other blue-chip  recruits already lined up.

Norvel Pelle,  a 6-8, 200-pound power-forward/center, announced his decision on national TV and said," It feels like home away from home," about heading to New York.  The California product is the nation's No. 19 recruit according to Rivals.com and picked the St. John's over other premier schools like Kansas, Washington, Oregon and UCLA.

It might all seem to be happening too fast for Storm fans who have waited for the basketball program to return to prominence.  Lavin is taking the fast track to better days and it can't come soon enough to the Queens campus.

Lavin was hired last spring. Skeptics immediately dismissed Lavin as a west coast coach with no New York City ties.  He wouldn't be able to connect with the city schools and junior leagues.   They said his years as an analyst for ESPN kept him away the coaching game too long and he couldn't revive the St. John's program to where it once was--elite.  Those critics had their points and they were well taken...until now.

Lavin has already quieted  those who said he couldn't return the school back to it's glory days by bringing basketball to the forefront at St. John's.  Depressed fans are once again excited about college basketball and the new head coach did it with players from every corner of the country--including New York!

Now with Pelle signed, Lavin has signed five top-100 recruits--an unprecedented feat for the Queens school.  The coveted big man from Compton joins Dominique Pointer of North Carolina, JaKarr Sampson from Ohio, D'Angelo Harrison from Texas, Nurideen Lindsay from Pennsylvania and Maurice Harkless from a few F train stops away in Queens, New York--who all signed on Wednesday.

Rivals.com already rated Lavin's class the fifth best in the nation behind Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Arkansas before they signed Pelle.  Not bad being mentioned in that company.

Pelle brings a qualified big man to the Red Storm, something the most of college basketball lacks.  Pelle claims he picked St. John's because, "Coach Lavin is a very smart guy.  He's a very smart coach.  I just loved the way he approached the situation."  Looks like Lavin's talk is smoother than his hair.  "He knew other schools wanted me and he gave me space and also made sure I knew they wanted me," said Pelle.

Lavin inherits a senior-laden team which made the NIT last year.  The Red Storm hasn't seen their name on an NCAA tournament bracket since 2002, but this year's squad includes the athletic freshman Dwayne Polee and is brimming with tournament optimism.  Big East coaches picked the team to finish sixth in the conference and that would be good enough for a tournament bid. The buzz around Carnesecca Arena is now louder than one of Louie's old sweaters.

St. John's kicks off it's season with a nationally-televised 2 a.m. game at St. Mary's on Tuesday. Lavin would probably want nothing better than to fill up Madison Square Garden like the old days. Only now with Red Storm fans--who have been scarce of late--and bring some life into the dormant arena once again.  He seems to be making quick in-roads to success.

"The way we build teams is by signing players who have competitive spirit, quality skill and basketball intelligence," said Lavin, "We're highly excited about the first wave."

So are Red Storm fans, who would be glad to have a product to cheer about.  Echoes of teams past that would shake the rest of the asbestos from the Garden's rafters.

McLOVIN' McLAVIN

STEVE LAVIN SIGNS WITH RED STORM

By Tony Mangia

The courtships were hasty. Time was running out. The list of potential coaches seemed to be thinning out. All the metro-area schools were grabbing familiar local names—Seton Hall hired Iona’s Kevin Willard, Fordham grabbed Hofstra’s Tom Pecora and, even that blast from the past and ex-Manhattan and St. John’s coach, Fran Fraschilla, had been seen sniffing around the Iona campus. It was like a New York City version of basketball musical chairs.

St. John’s University, arguably, the biggest suitor, seemed to get that hint of desperation out of its voice. Memories of futile dalliances with Billy Donovan and Paul Hewitt were an afterthought. University athletic director, Chris Monasch, had finally found his soul mate—and he was 3000 miles away--actually, an ESPN studio out of Bristol, Connecticut. Steve Lavin, the ex-coach of UCLA, stumbled out of the gate with long-shot odds but is, now officially, the head coach of the St. John’s Red Storm Basketball program.

Lavin’s signing came with a bang and a posse. I don’t only mean his attractive wife Mary Ann Jarou. At his Wednesday announcement, the new head coach divulged that his “dream team” of assistant coaches would likely include the legendary coach from Purdue, Gene Keady. I didn’t know Keady,73, was even still alive until I saw a close-up of his bad comb-over –or cheap toupee—last week at the Boilermakers Elite Eight game on CBS. Lavin's ex-boss' stare--cold as a Terre Haute frost--alone would be worth the price of admission next season.

The coaching announcement, held in front of 300 administrators, clergy and impatient boosters, set off the most fireworks seen on the Queens campus since…the Felipe Lopez signing. The words “relevant’ and “legacy” are being tossed like Duke three pointers while university president, Rev. Donald Harrington has declared, ”We belong in the NCAA Tournament.” The same words came with the aside, “ And do it with academics.”

Everyone knows it’s about winning. St. John’s has gone out and given Lavin, who has been out of coaching since 2003, a $8.75 million to $9 million contract to bring the basketball program into prominence once again. Lavin may not be the best tactician—he has been accused of not knowing whether a team was showing zone or man-to-man—nor does he have local ties to the ample New York high school leagues but he has shown he can recruit on the west coast. If he can bring in Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos, ex-coach Dave Leitao or Manhattan coach Barry Rohrssen—all with local recruiting ties—and Keady comes aboard with his tactical acumen, this team could really be a dream. Lavin’s profile on ESPN—as an analyst—makes him visible to young players and that by hiring a familiar television face, St. John’s is already trolling the local basketball courts and has the attention of talented blue-chippers. Kids who know Lavin from cable would probably ask, "John Wooden, who's he?"

College basketball in this city has been stagnant. You actually have the New York media calling Siena and Cornell –at least they’re in the tournament--local teams! That’s how starved fans are. Don’t even get started on the pros. The Knicks are years away and the other night the Nets celebrated like they won the championship and, in reality, all the jubilation was for “not being the worst team in history!” Sad.

Steve Lavin can resurrect this city while it lies in a basketball coma. He inherits a team with five returning starters and the support of Red Storm fans. He can bring his Pat Riley flair and hair and his Hollywood smile and wife. He can replace the stoic Norm “who?” Roberts with unbridled enthusiasm. Lavin has called the St. John’s program a “sleeping giant.” Now he'd better bring his winning ways and start kicking that giant’s feet.

COACH K, IZZO, HUGGINS AND WHO?

Good to see Eli Manning at the NIT--now known as the NCAA Tournament Expanded Field--and sporting that befuddled sideline look. I thought he only used that at Giants Stadium. That's one more sighting this season than ubiquitous brother Peyton.

The lack of star players in this year's Final Four has CBS desperate for a selling point. If I hear one more analyst compare Butler with the film, "Hoosiers," I'll watch "Semi Pro" in director's cut version. Spare me. Butler has an .800 winning percentage over the past three years and is always fluctuating around the top ten. There's no "Hoosiers" without Hackman or Hopper anyway.

THE VENDITTE RULES

Who cares about the Joba Chamberlain/Phil Hughes pitching controversy. It's all about the rightie/leftie debate of Yankee minor leaguer, Pat Venditte and his six-fingered glove!. Can't wait for the majors to figure out how to regulate throwing ambidextrously. One right, two left, one ... wait, I'm not sure. I can see it now, Venditte throws right and then some rule disallows him from throwing left. He'll look like Peter Sellers in "Dr. Strangelove" trying to hold his forbidden arm down.

From E.R.A. to H.G.H. to E.D.

Roger Clemens may be bringing Dr. Ruth to his next hearing. Already embarrassed by allegations of steroid use, Roger Clemens is being dragged through the mud by country singer, sex tape participant and alleged mistress, Cindy McCready. She claims dirty movies and erectile dysfunction are only some of Clemens' alleged woes but, Roger the Rocket's attorney, Rusty--unfortunately and ironically named--Hardin, claims it is all hearsay.

First it was Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger with his assault charge. Now it is teammate Santonio Holmes on the police blotter for the same thing. Since when did the Steelers start morphing into the Cincinnati Bengals, rap-sheet wise?