St. John’s and the resuscitation of New York City basketball

St. John’s is back in the national college basketball conversation.

The Red Storm captured their first Big East tournament title in 25 years and will begin NCAA Tournament play on Thursday in Providence against Omaha.

This is not only a revival for St. John’s basketball but the resuscitation of New York City basketball. St John’s carries the flag for the Big East and I’d argue that more than any team in the men’s tournament, St. John’s carries the flag for the basketball reputation of the city it represents.

When I began covering St. John’s in 1983, the program under Lou Carnesecca was the symbol of the City Game. St. John’s attracted local talent who originally left for college and found their way back. St. John’s was a founding member of the Big East Conference, which began in 1979. The Big East gave St. John’s a national profile in a powerful basketball-only conference.

St. John’s reached the Final Four for the second time in 1985 (the first was in 1952) anchored by homegrown players like Brooklyn-born Chris Mullin and Manhattan-born Walter Berry. Berry played at Benjamin Franklin High School, went to San Jacinto Junior College (Houston) and came back to St. John’s where he became National Player of the Year.

For as long as I can remember, New York City was always regarded as the Mecca of basketball. Every city had great players and playground legends, but New York seemed to me a step ahead, a cut above.

While editing “City Game,” a book about New York City basketball, I spoke with Kenny Smith, Mark Jackson and Chamique Holdsclaw about what made New York City basketball special. Smith, a former All-American high school player at Archbishop Molloy, became a star at the University of North Carolina and a two-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets.

At his core though, Smith is a fiercely proud New Yorker and a chauvinist when it comes to New York City basketball, which he puts at the top of the mountain.

“What we always had are the guys who shouldn’t make it, the guys who shouldn’t play varsity basketball, but because he had an intuition about the game, made his varsity team. The guy who shouldn’t go to St. John’s but gets a scholarship to St. John’s; the guy who should not make the NBA but gets a 20-year career. That’s us all around the country.”

Mark Jackson, who Smith referenced, was a high school star at Bishop Loughlin in Queens. While Smith chose to leave New York, Jackson stayed home and went to St. John’s. He was a sophomore on the St. John’s team that reached the Final Four in 1985. Jackson carved out a 17-year NBA career, coached the Golden State Warriors for four seasons and enjoyed a successful career as a broadcaster.

I asked Jackson if he agreed with Smith’s assessment of New York City basketball.

“I agree and I disagree,” Jackson said. “I do believe we’ve had some of the greatest players to have ever played the game: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a New York City dude, Dr. J [Julius Irving] is a New York guy, Tiny Archibald, Lenny Wilkins, Bernard King. We have incredible all-time great players,” he said. “But we also have some people who carved the niche and found a way to impact the game because of their knowledge, because of their competitive spirit, because of their willingness to sacrifice, because of the grind mentality.”

From Nate “Tiny” Archibald to Cole Anthony, New York City has always been known for producing outstanding guards. The year Smith came out of high school, Pearl Washington went to Syracuse and Kenny Hutchinson went to Arkansas. A year later, Rod Strickland from Truman High School in the Bronx went to DePaul and Boo Harvey went to St. John’s after attending San Jacinto Junior College.

Fast forward 40 years, and the conveyor belt for delivering talented players has changed drastically in a way that has impacted New York City’s claim of being the Mecca of basketball. The conveyor belt is now global. Like players around the country, New York City players are more likely to leave high school for a post-graduate year out of state.

“New York is still the Mecca,” Kenny Smith insisted. “but what has happened is that prep schools have changed basketball. Parents hold their kid back for a year giving him a better opportunity to get a Division I scholarship at higher level.”

He cites Cole Anthony of the Orlando Magic as a prime example, Anthony played for Archbishop Molloy for three years and then transferred to Oak Hill Academy before going to the University of North Carolina where he spent one season.

Anthony is still a New York City player.

“When he went to North Carolina they said he comes from Oak Hill Academy,” Smith said. “It’s going to look like no players are coming out of New York. They’re coming out, but a lot of players are leaving the city to go to prep schools. It gets watered down because of all the movement.”

Legendary New York City players like Chamique Holdsclaw said that the new system that delivers players has diluted a once-vibrant basketball community. Holdsclaw grew up in Queens and led Christ the King High School to four consecutive state championships. At the University of Tennessee, Holdsclaw won three consecutive women’s basketball championships. She was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 1999.

“New York will always be the Mecca of basketball just because of the history, but in recent years is falling off,” she said. “It’s just different.

“Back then everybody went to school in the city so if I didn’t have a game, I try to get up to Rice to go watch Felipe Lopez play. There was more of a sense of community. You wanted to be in those gyms. I don’t know if we have that anymore. Everybody’s going to prep school. They’re being shipped away because they’re good players. Yes, they represent New York City but there’s nothing like hearing those stories back in the day about how we stayed home. That made the connection deeper-rooted.”

This year’s St. John’s team reflects the new reality of big-time college basketball. Current Red Storm players are from California, Georgia, Texas, Greece, Africa and Portugal. Two players are from New York: Kadary Richmond, a grad student, and freshman Jaiden Glover are both from Brooklyn.

Richmond reflects the culture that Carnesecca created at St. John’s: you can always come back. After graduating from high school, Richmond played a post-grad year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire before accepting a scholarship to Syracuse. Richmond transferred to Seton Hall in 2022. Last year, Richmond transferred to St. John’s to play with Pitino.

Pitino, the 72-year-old coach of St. John’s, also reflects a culture that embraces native sons. Pitino was born in New York and served as head coach at Boston University, Providence, Kentucky and Louisville. Pitino led Kentucky to an NCAA championship in 1996 and Louisville to the national championship in 2013. The 2013 national championship and a 2012 Final Four appearance were vacated and Pitino resigned as the Louisville head coach in 2017. He was subsequently hired by Iona where he coached from 2020 until 2023.

Now he’s at St. John’s and you could make the argument that both the school and the coach have been revived.

After his team won the Big East tournament on Saturday, Pitino told reporters how much being a New Yorker and leading a St. John’s resurgence meant.

“As a New Yorker, I’m about as proud as any person could be,” he said. “When I hear St John’s is New York’s team, we’re New York strong, and we represent New York, that makes me feel awesome inside. I was elated with Louisville when we came in here and won three times, but there’s an extra-special feeling being a New Yorker who grew up [on] 26th Street and grew up in Queens and in Long Island. So, for me, it’s just extra special, because I share this with every fan that takes great pride in what accomplished this year, the fans are very much part of our team. Tonight, when we celebrate, I will toast the fans.”

In many ways, this resurgent St. John’s team epitomizes the New York City basketball ethos: solid players, role players, no one dominating player and a great team.

“We don’t have the best players,” Smith said. “We don’t have Michael Jordan, although he was born in Brooklyn; we don’t have Kobe Bryant; we don’t have LeBron but we’ve got Mark Jackson. We got 1 million Mark Jacksons y’all don’t have. You don’t have a guy who shouldn’t have made anything but who stayed in the NBA for 15 years.

“We ain’t the best. We’re just the Mecca.”