Most of the time, Tyrone Grant will be in one or two games.
This winter is different. He cannot separate himself from St. John's. The old Johnny Center has won seven games and plans for more.
“I like watching them,” he told The Post in a phone interview. “I'm a big fan of Zuby [Ejiofor]I don't even think he knows how good he can be. I like watching the team. As a pure sports fan, it's exciting to watch when they make it happen, just the enthusiasm, everyone scores.
“They make defense fun. It's fun to watch them play.”
Red Storm fans aren't the only ones who can't get enough of this group. Graduates feel the same way.
In this post, we talked about three notable Johnnys (talking about the current state of the program): Grant, Marcus Hatten, and Tarik Turner.
They were downright disgusted by the potential of this team, the strength and ferocity with which it defended, and the buzz this group generated.
St. John's is tied for the Big East standings at 8-1 and ranked 20th in the country. It hasn't been that high in 10 years. It is projected as the No. 6 seed by most brackets and has the No. 5 defense in the country in terms of efficiency.
Turner, a Fox Sports analyst who also works on the air for St. John's Radio, has to go back to the Elite 8 season, the Elite 8 season, when the atmosphere was this high. After last Wednesday night's win over Xavier, he was in Pennsylvania waiting for the train home. The entire station was red.
Said the former point guard, who played at St. John's from 1994-98. “The excitement from our alumni fans is at an all-time high. It's exciting. They want to see us win, and they're seeing it.”
He added, “On the train, in restaurants, everywhere I go, people are random people who want to talk about St. John's.”
Grant, a center on the Elite 8 team in 1998-99, sees similarities with his team in this unit.
It's these Johnny guards, their ability to switch at every position, their physicality on both ends of the floor.
Turner loves the perimeter, which features Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, Simeon Wilcher, and RJ Luis. He reminds me of those from 1998-99, which included Eric Barkley, Boots Thornton, Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace), and Laveau Postel. Turner even thinks this group excels in one area.
“This team is better than that team because that team didn't have RIM protectors,” Turner said. “This team has Zuby, who averages six blocks. Kadary makes up for a lot of mistakes with his length. This team is the best St. John's team I can remember.”
One area Grant would like to see improved is on-court leadership.
St. John's was a great second-half team, a nod to the halftime adjustments coach Rick Pitino often makes.
After the break, they averaged 9.3 points over the opposition. Only Duke, Florida and Tennessee State are better in that category. But sometimes it takes too long for Johnny to get out of his funk.
“I have nothing against Coach Pitino,” Grant said. “Sometimes he won't be there to save them.”
When asked about their favorite players on the team, all three alumni raved about Ejiofor, especially Grant, and the big man himself.
The junior forward went from backup to star this year. He is team leader in rebounds (8.2) and blocks (1.9) and second in scoring (14.6).
He is also second nationally in offensive rebounds (4.5) per game. Turner noted forwarding Aaron Scott as someone he admires for the dirty work he does.
“He makes all the winning plays. He's very low maintenance. He's a star in his role,” Turner said. “He's not our best player. He's a really, really good glue guy. He does so many little things – loose balls, deflections. In our last game I thought his on-ball defense really stabilized us.”
Turner doesn't want anyone to forget it's still January.
A lot will happen between now and March. St. John's has yet to face the league's other two ranked teams (No. 10 Marquette and No. 19 Connecticut) and has not yet reached the midpoint of the conference season.
Of course, it's easy to get carried away considering how long it's been since this program achieved this kind of success.
Like the winning fan base, the alumni have been waiting for a season like this.
“It's a special team in the sense that they believe in each other,” said Hatten, a high-scoring guard who led St. John's to the 2003 NIT crown. “It's not that they blow you away with talent. They're blue-collar workers, they fit the New York City mindset, and they're good at it.
“It's everything we hoped for. We've seen and endured so many seasons that we thought we thought this season would be over. What we're witnessing now is a breath of fresh air.” .”
I have a feeling this can get better. Pitino's teams are known to be at their best in the second half of the season. For example, last year's team didn't walk around until mid-February. So the schedule may be working in St. John's favor. Marquette, Turmeric, and Clayton are in the garden February 4-16. MSG must be electric for these showdowns.
“They need that one win to get the city hooked,” Grant said. “We know the city is full of frontliners, and they just need something big to keep them occupied.”
