Steve Lavin has returned St. John's to national relevance. The Red Storm (11-1) is No. 10 in the CBSSports.com Top 25 (and one) and opens Big East play Wednesday at Seton Hall. CBS Sports Network and CBSSports.com's Jon Rothstein sat down with Lavin in Manhattan to discuss the strong start, Rysheed Jordan and more.
Jon Rothstein, CBSSports.com: Your team has started the season with 11 victories in 12 games. How as a coach do you balance taking pride in that accomplishment while still knowing that your fate will be ultimately be determined by how you perform in the Big East?
Steve Lavin: Stay on task. Keep the team focused on individual and collective improvement. We don't feel that we've played our best basketball yet so the daily challenge is to work toward realizing our full potential. Our mantra is "hammer to rock" -- to focus on improvement in each practice and to prepare for each opponent with purpose. We need to elevate every facet of play. That's the approach that we have to take in order to earn winning results.
CBSSports.com: The same core that's gone 11-1 to start this season was also part of a nucleus that missed out on the field of 68 last March. What's the biggest difference in them as a whole versus a year ago at this time?
Lavin: I believe last year winning 10 out of our final 13 conference games set the table for the strong start to this season. With distance and perspective it's clear this team forged a certain resolve or toughness after the 0-5 start to Big East play last season; they've developed a resilience trait -- a gumption, the ability to pick themselves up and fight back -- this group counter-punches well. In terms of basketball our numbers indicate we are performing more effectively -- we're playing more efficient basketball offensively. We've put together some impressive defensive efforts and we have a group of starters that are playing the best basketball of their careers at the same time. It's carry-over from our strong finish in conference play last season. We were disappointed with our postseason results, and during the off-season this team went to work in an old-fashioned manner. We had a strong Spring and Summer and now we're positioned to have a special season.
CBSSports.com: Did you ever stop and think during the off-season -- whether it was on a walk in Soho or when you were on a beach this summer -- that you really missed out on an opportunity for the St. John's program last year because of the way last season ended?
Lavin: The 0-5 start in Big East play at the end of the day is what cost us an NCAA bid -- in spite of winning 10 out of our final 13 conference games it was the poor start that cost us. We had the second-best record at 7-2 in the Big East play over the second half of conference. When you look at it, we were 10-3 in the non-conference and then after the 0-5 start, we won 10 out of 13 in conference. But the 0-5 start came back to haunt us as we had no margin for error. It came down to a one-game scenario which was the equivalent of a play-in game against Providence in the Big East Tournament. This team has matured and grown up through adversity. We had the unexpected seven deaths of loved ones within a 48-hour period. A number of violent types of deaths. That clearly was the most challenging week of my coaching career in terms of trying to help a group of young people navigate such an emotional minefield. The carnage was real and the grieving was sobering. We experienced something as a team in midseason that no one could have possibly been prepared for. There's no manual on how to deal with seven deaths of loved ones in a 48-hour time span. There wasn't any pep talk or words of any kind that I could share. Instead we just tried as a family to be there for one another during a dark time.
CBSSports.com: This group is dominated by veteran players. How much does this unit remind you of your first season at St. John's (10-11) when you led the program to the NCAA Tournament?
Lavin: There's a number of similarities between my first year at St. John's and this current group of players. A number of those players reach out -- Sean Evans, Paris Horne, D.J. Kennedy, Malik Boothe -- because they feel a connection with this senior class. They work out together during the summer. They keep in touch. Those former players have been good mentors for this current group of players. The versatility, the experience, the hard edge, the resolve of that first group and this group is very similar.
CBSSports.com: There's obvious pressure to take this team back to the NCAA Tournament. How does the pressure of leading the Red Storm as you're about to begin play in the Big East in 2015 compare to the pressures you felt when you were the head coach of UCLA?
Lavin: It's interesting. I don't feel an inordinate degree of pressure to win at St. John's. Naturally, I understand that in this business there's a bottom line and our performance on the court determines whether or not we are perceived as successful. At UCLA it was unique because anything less than a Final Four is considered a disappointment. We've been to two Final Fours at St. John's in our program's history -- one in the 1950s (1952) and one in the mid-1980s (1985). The programs are different. Yet at the same time there's definitely some similarities between St. John's and UCLA -- more than most would realize -- tradition, heritage, entertainment capitals of the world. Rabid fan bases. Top 10 in the history of basketball in nearly every category when it comes to winning percentage, all-time wins, NCAA Tournaments, All-Americans, players who were drafted. The one difference is UCLA has 11 NCAA Championships and we don't have one yet here at St. John's. But that's what we work towards every day -- to position our program to try and make a run to the Final Four as Coach (Lou) Carnesecca did in 1984-85. We've been to three postseasons, had two 20-win seasons, and now we're in position to have another strong year. We've been making steady, measurable progress and now we're in position take the next step to get back to the tournament and be in position to do something special in March. When we arrived here in 2010, we knew that it was going to be a tall task. St. John's had struggled for a decade and obviously there was some inherent challenges as there have been some good coaches that have come through since Coach Carnesecca but none have made it off the island alive. That's just the reality of it. Every coach has been fired since Coach Carnesecca retired. We feel we're making steady progress climbing the mountain and these upperclassmen have positioned us nicely to take the next step. The goal is to play our best basketball in March so we can make some noise and give these seniors the type of finish they deserve.
CBSSports.com: Now when you were at UCLA you coached a slew of great guards, highlighted by Baron Davis, and now you've got another elite playmaker in Rysheed Jordan. What's the biggest thing you need from him moving to forward to ensure that your team is where it needs to be two months from now?
Lavin: Phil Greene, D'Angelo Harrison, Jamal Branch and Dom Pointer set a powerful example for Rysheed Jordan to follow. They're all different players and have unique strengths that they need to continue to develop but the work ethic, the attitude is something that Rysheed will learn from. Unlike these seniors, Rysheed has the advantage to learn from these experienced teammates who take him under their wing and set a good example for him in terms of the workman-like approach necessary for delivering winning results. If Rysheed takes the lead of the upperclassman and learns from this group of seniors, that bodes well for his future. This group of seniors had to do it on their own. Not only were they the youngest team in school history in back-to-back years, they didn't have their head coach who recruited them in Year One because of the cancer. They were baptized in the old Big East, going against Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Louisville -- the school of hard knocks education is another reason why this group is playing at a high level now -- they draw on those experiences from their freshman and sophomore seasons.
CBSSports.com: It's no secret that St. John's has been at its best over the past few years when Dom Pointer has roamed as an undersized power forward. How much has his presence at that position been a major part of this team's 11-1 start?
Lavin: Dom is the catalyst for our team on both ends of the floor. He spearheads our attacking, baseline to baseline style of play. His gifts, talents, and skills are a perfect fit for our system and style of play. When we recruit, we look for a marriage between talent and our particular brand of basketball. Dom personifies that marriage between player and system. Right now, he's been as productive as any player I've coached in my career. Sometimes you have players offensively who are lights out. Sometimes you have defensive players who are firing on all cylinders. But it's rare to have a guy like Dom Pointer, who on both sides of the ball can impact the game in such a dramatic way. And the numbers bear that out.
CBSSports.com: You're in your fifth season at St. John's. What's the biggest thing that you know now that you didn't know when you first got the job here?
Lavin: Patience is a virtue. With the speed of the world, the information age, the 24-hour sports news cycle, the appetite to win, the quick-fix thinking, and everyone wanting it all right now -- I'm naive enough to believe there is still something to be said for the old-school approach -- the "greatest generation" fundamentals of achievement can still work in today's age -- at the end of the day this group of players demonstrate that an old-fashioned approach, 'inch by inch, life's a cinch,' 'hammer to rock,' 'one foot in front of the other.' The results will come. Barring an injury, this is a group that has an opportunity to be special because they've been educated by the school of hard knocks. Sport in its purest form is a metaphor for life. Whether it's the Bible or things that your great grandfather, grandfather or parents taught you -- this team is an example of staying with it -- I think it's why our fans can identify with this group. We all draw inspiration from those who have struggled but because of the right attitude sooner or later the reward comes. As a coach or parent, or teacher you can't help but enjoy the story of this group. We understand that we haven't accomplished anything of significance yet, but we're moving in the right direction in terms of this season and the program's future.
CBSSports.com: Is there anything that you would do differently if you could do things over again?
Lavin: I wouldn't have tried to come back 33 days after having a seven-hour surgery to remove cancer (in 2012). That was a really poor decision on my part because it set me back and consequently it set our program back a year. We're a year behind schedule because of my flawed decision making to return before being fully recovered. If I had waited maybe two full months or even 10 weeks I likely would have been able to come back for the start of Big East play. As the head coach of the program, if you're not at full strength or operating on all cylinders, the organization suffers. I put my long term health in jeopardy and ultimately set our programs rebuilding efforts back a year.
CBSSports.com: The St. John's fan is obviously excited about the present, but is also focused on the future. A lot of people are curious to know what next season will look like for the Red Storm since you have so many upperclassmen on your roster. What needs to be added in recruiting between now and the spring so the program remains on solid footing?
Lavin: We're probably in better position now in terms of recruiting than at any point since we've been here. We are involved with potential prospects internationally, locally in the tri-state area, and coast-to-coast. We never imagined that we would lose Maurice Harkless after his freshman year to the NBA, JaKarr Sampson after his sophomore year to the NBA, and Amir Garrett to professional baseball. Those three would be with this current team. If you add two NBA players and a guy that throws heat in the Cincinnati Reds' farm system, our bench would be deeper and a little more experienced. We're 15th (in the AP Top 25) in the country right now without those three, but they were part of that original recruiting class that was ranked third in the country. We're always going to be in position to sign top prospects. New York City, our track record of sending players to the NBA, the coaching staff that we've assembled, Madison Square Garden, along with our style of play make us an attractive destination for the elite prospects. Recruiting is the least of my concerns because that's an area we've excelled -- we work tirelessly at recruiting.
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