Making The Call: Fix St. John's

Most New York sports fans were paying attention to the Giants fall short to the Eagles today. And rightly so—the matchup determined who went to the NFC Championship. But, a small minority may have noticed that St. John’s went into Pittsburgh today and took on the #1 Panthers.

Predictably, they were destroyed by a Pitt team that looks as if it will be a major force come March. Despite upsetting Notre Dame last weekend, the Johnnies are not a very good team. They are very young and they lost Anthony Mason Jr. in November to a foot injury. They haven’t had much success at all under coach Norm Roberts in his five years and have become an afterthought in the New York sports market.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Look at the rosters of some of the top collegiate programs in the country and you will see plenty of players from this area. For years, this was the recipe for success at St. John’s, recruit the local kids and then you will win. But, now those kids go to other schools and St. John’s struggles year after year. Getting those kids to come and play for the Red Storm again will take some work, but it isn’t impossible.

Can Coach Roberts deliver those players and bring the Johnnies back to prominence? The early results are not encouraging, but remember that Roberts took over a program at rock bottom. He deserves at least another season to see if the underclassmen he recently recruited can step up and win. As hard as it is to believe right now, St. John’s has been a basketball powerhouse in the past and it can be one again. It is just going to take some work.