The unpredictable and inconsistent season has ended. There will be no more Marcus Hatten fall away jumpers this year. No more seeing Jarvis pace up and down the sideline. No more Donald Emanuel 3s and no more free throws (thank God). Our St. John’s Red Storm was ousted by the Badgers of Wisconsin before it was even able to unpack its bags at the NCAA Tournament. This season was far greater than last year’s considering at this time last year we were two weeks removed from a first-round Big East tournament loss to Seton Hall that ended a miserable 14-15 campaign. However, I can not help but wonder what might have been had everything gone right for the Johnnies this season.

What if Willie Shaw was not bothered by a sore knee that hindered his mobility and shooting from day one? What if he reclaimed the offensive ability that he displayed at the beginning of last season? What if Alpha Bangura had not decided to leave the team and instead reached his full potential as a player? What if Abe Keita and Mohamed Diakite were able to stay healthy for the entire year and give us that true inside presence? Instead we are left with a respectable 20-12 season and a first round loss in the NCAA Tournament and perhaps a brighter future.

There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed before next season and we hope Jarvis and Co. will find some answers. We have yet another All-American point guard signed, sealed and delivered for next season in Elijah Ingram. Hopefully Ingram is more in the mold of Erick Barkley as opposed to the lovable Omar Cook. Speaking of Cook, wonder how he feels now that the Johnnies have made the tournament the year before he arrived as well as the year after he left? I will guarantee you that after Hatten graduates from St. John’s, he will be selected in the first round of the NBA draft, providing him with guaranteed money and a guaranteed job in the NBA not on some team from Fayetteville in the NBDL. Having a true point guard with three point range will allow Hatten to move to his natural two guard position and help the Johnnies field one of the best backcourts in the league. Another player set to join the Storm next year is versatile forward Tim Doyle. Doyle has been likened to former St. John’s player Reggie Jessie, hopefully the Jessie of 1999 – 2000 as opposed to the one we witnessed last season. In addition, Red Storm fans everywhere are crying for a true inside presence, which has been missing since Jarvis arrived. Only time and available scholarships will show if our wish is granted.

Lets hope that next year at this time we won’t be recapping the season but instead previewing a Red Storm Sweet Sixteen match up.

Room Selection improves

We have just begun the process of room selection for the 2002-2003 academic year, but Residence Life seems to have figured out what has gone wrong in the past and has made a concerted effort to meet the needs of all the students.

First it has developed a way to separate more of the students into specific categories, allowing for far less confusion than mass hysteria in a residence hall lounge. They rewarded students with more credits as well as students who could fill an entire suite by allowing them to choose three weeks before everyone else. They even included a separate day for people who want singles. In all, organization was the theme of this year’s process. This is the third time I have participated in room selection and for the first time I hear no students complaining. Granted, general room selection has not yet taken place so we can not call it a complete success. But it seems to me that Residence Life has finally figured it out after three years of chaos that ruled over the last weeks of March.