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"It was amazing to watch Joe Lapchick stage his own fabulous retirement party by winning both premier MSG college tournamnets in 1964-65--the Holiday Festival and National Invitation--to close his St. John's coaching career.
What an exit! It was an emotional thrill to be a telecaster at both tournaments and witness the thunderous ovation for Joe."
-- Bob Wolff |
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By Marc Raimondi
04/27/2006
Rob Thomas (l.) and Justin Burrell, two St. John's recruits, stood on the MSG floor for the first time Saturday in the regional game of the Jordan All-American Classic.
Rob Thomas was never interested in following a basketball
team. He had no allegiance to a pro club or an NCAA school. Actually, as surprising it might seem, the South Kent (Conn.) Prep star is new to catching hoops on television - by choice.
"I used to never watch basketball," on TV, said Thomas, who sat out the regional game of the Jordan All-American Classic Saturday at Madison Square Garden with a high left ankle sprain. "I just used to be outside playing basketball. All my friends were like 'the NBA game is on, the college game is on.' I'm still outside playing basketball."
But that all changed recently. Thomas came in from the playground, he stopped working on a game that has him ranked in the country's top-100 2006 recruits by almost every scouting service, a game that has brought him acclaim as one of the most explosive offensive players in the country.
Why? An allegiance had been formed. In March, despite recommendations against it from some, Thomas committed to St. John's and two weeks ago, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound small forward signed a letter of intent to play there this fall.
People had always told Thomas, who was also received offers from South Florida and DePaul, that he should go away to school.
"You got your friends here," he said. "You got people who want to be calling you (saying), 'Can I get a ticket?' This and that."
In other words, some people didn't think the Brooklyn native needed the distractions.
His childhood was not an easy one. Thomas, who is dyslexic, grew up in the rough Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and attended Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, Wadleigh in Manhattan and St. Thomas More in Connecticut before settling in at South Kent last year barely able to read and write.
Since then, he has made academics his priority and the decision to go to St. John's became an easy one. He relishes the ability to go back to his prep school on a regular basis, to the family that has taken him in there.
"If it wasn't for South Kent," Thomas said, "I wouldn't be in this spot right now."
That spot happened to be at MSG Saturday evening, as he watched Justin Burrell, his Jordan city team teammate - and soon-to-be Red Storm teammate - score 20 points and pull down five rebounds in their team's 142-131 loss to the suburban team.
"All the time running up and down the court, I kept thinking, 'This is my home now,'" Burrell said. "I love it."
The 6-foot-8, uber-athletic Burrell, out of Our Savior Lutheran in the Bronx, has verbally committed to St. John's and is a 2007 recruit. He'll be prepping somewhere next year, he's just not sure where yet.
Thomas has yet to recommend South Kent to his AAU teammate with Team Roc. But he did have another message for Burrell:
"Do what you gotta do, but keep the right people in your ear. That's what happened to me, I had a lot of people in my ear. That's the main thing you gotta do. We're coming to St. John's I got your back, you got my back."
Note: timesledger.com
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