By Dylan Butler
Mike Jarvis was looking on Long Island for his 2002 recruiting class and while he initially had his eyes on Amityville for highly sought 6-foot-10 Jason Fraser, the St. John’s head coach received an oral commitment from another Long Islander, 6-foot-6 small forward Tim Doyle from St. Dominic’s in Oyster Bay.
Doyle, who has a 3.5 GPA and scored a 1080 on the SAT, initially considered Northeastern and Princeton, but his breakthrough performance at the ABCD Camp July 11 and 12 at Fairleigh Dickinson University, more than opened some eyes as he averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists while shooting a camp-best 71 percent.
Jarvis hopes to land one or more of Doyle’s summer league teammates on the Long Island Panthers as the Red Storm are hot on the trail of Fraser, Lenny Cooke from Northern Valley Regional in Old Tappan, N.J. and Elija Ingram of St. Anthony’s in Jersey City
Jarvis was in Alumni Hall Sunday night preparing the NYC Hoops team, comprised of 11 college players — including three from St. John’s — to play in a tournament in Greece next week.
NYC Hoops is a non-profit amateur basketball organization that enables and encourages inner-city youth from around the United States to use their abilities on the basketball courts as a vehicle to be exposed to different ways of life and cultures.
Highlighting the roster is University of Arizona sophomore guard Jason Gardner, who averaged 10.9 points a team-leading 4.1 assists per game and was an honorable All-American by the Associated Press. Joining Gardner will be Michigan junior forward LaVell Blanchard, who led the Wolverines in scoring (17.8) and rebounds (8.4), Wyoming senior forward Josh Davis, who scored 13.5 points and grabbed 9.4 rebounds per game, leading the Mountain West Conference.
Michigan State junior forwards Aloysius Anagonye and Adam Ballinger, William and Mary guard Adam Hess and Syracuse center Jeremy McNeil will join Red Storm newcomers Marcus Hatten, a junior college transfer from Tallahassee Community College, guard Tristan Smith, from Amityville High School, and Eric King, a former standout at Lincoln High School.
SJU Men’s Soccer tabbed to finish second in preseason poll
The St. John’s men’s soccer team was selected to finish second in the Big East this year and senior midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Matteo were picked to the preseason All-Big East team, the league announced last week.
Defending NCAA champion Connecticut has been chosen to repeat as Big East regular season champions. Following St. John’s was Rutgers, Boston College, Seton Hall, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Providence, Virginia Tech and Villanova.
The Red Storm, which finished 14-5-2 last year, including 8-2-1 in the Big East, advanced to its ninth-straight NCAA College Cup and reached the Sweet 16 for the fifth-straight year.
Joseph, who was a first-team selection last year, will be co-captain will Matteo this year. Joseph led St. John’s in scoring and finished fifth in the conference with 14 goals and two assists for 30 points. Matteo finished third on the team in scoring last year with two goals and a team-high seven assists for 11 points. He is also the most experienced returnee, having played 64 games in a Red Storm uniform.
St. John’s opens the regular season Aug. 31 at Indiana in the Adidas Classic tournament.
SJU’s Hickman and Savvi for World University Games
St. John’s standouts Michelle Hickman and Jaak Savvi have qualified to represent their countries in the World University Games in Beijing, China from Aug. 27-Sept. 1. Hickman will compete in the triple jump for the United States while Savvi will swim in the butterfly for his native country, Estonia.
Hickman, a graduate student, placed ninth at the USA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. with a jump of 41’7 1/2’’. She finished seventh at the USA Indoor Championships and eighth at the NCAA outdoor championships. By being the third collegiate finisher at the USA outdoor, she was able to qualify for the World Games.
Savvi, a senior, led the Red Storm men’s swimming team to a second-place finish at the Big East championships and earned all-conference honors. He set a Big East record and a St. John’s school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.10. He also set the school record in the 200-yard fly (1:48.40) and was a member of three record-setting school relay teams (200-free, 400-free and the 400-medley).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
