1996–97 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team

1996–1997 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball
ECAC Holiday Festival Champions
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
1996–1997 record	13–14 (8–10 Big East)
Head coach	Fran Fraschilla
Assistant coach	Ron Rutledge
Assistant coach	Darren Savino
Home arena	Alumni Hall Madison Square Garden

	Conf				Overall
1996–97 Big East men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Big East 6
#20 Villanova	12	–	6	.667	24	–	10	.706
#23 Boston College†	12	–	6	.667	22	–	9	.710
West Virginia	11	–	7	.611	21	–	10	.677
Notre Dame	8	–	10	.444	16	–	14	.533
St. John's	8	–	10	.444	13	–	15	.464
Connecticut	7	–	11	.389	18	–	15	.545
Big East 7
Georgetown	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Providence	10	–	8	.556	24	–	12	.667
Pittsburgh	10	–	8	.556	18	–	15	.545
Miami	9	–	9	.500	16	–	13	.552
Syracuse	9	–	9	.500	19	–	13	.594
Seton Hall	5	–	13	.278	10	–	18	.357
Rutgers	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407

† 1997 Big East Tournament winner As of March 31, 1997^[1]^[2]^[3]; Rankings from AP Poll

The 1996–97 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team represented St. John's University during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Fran Fraschilla in his first year at the school after replacing Brian Mahoney. St. John's home games are played at Alumni Hall and Madison Square Garden and the team is a member of the Big East Conference.

Off season

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Notes
Maurice Brown	5	G	5'9"	Senior	Graduated
Thomas Bayne	22	F	6'10"	Senior	Graduated
Derek Brown	23	G	6'3"	RS Senior	Graduated
Rowan Barrett	24	G/F	6'5"	Senior	Graduated. Entered 1997 NBA Draft
Fred Lyson	44	G/F	6'7"	RS Junior	Transferred

Class of 1996 signees

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight
Lavor Postell SF	Albany, GA	Westover High School	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	N/A
Lavor Postell SF	Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Chudney Gray PG	Bronx, NY	Rice High School	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	N/A
Chudney Gray PG	Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Collin Charles PG	Toronto, Ontario	Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	N/A
Collin Charles PG	Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "1996 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Roster

1996–97 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	High School/Junior College	Home town
1.5 !G	3	Gray, ChudneyChudney Gray	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	1.0 !Fr	Rice	Bronx, NY
1.5 !G	4	Turner, TarikTarik Turner	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	3.0 !Jr	Oak Hill	Charlottesville, VA
1.5 !G	10	Syed, KareemKareem Syed	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	1.0 !Fr	Hillcrest	Queens, NY
1.5 !G	11	Charles, CollinCollin Charles	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	1.0 !Fr	Eastern Commerce	Toronto, Ontario
1.5 !G	13	López, FelipeFelipe López	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	3.0 !Jr	Rice	Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
3.5 !F	14	Brown, EdEd Brown	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	1.5 !RS Fr	Copiague	Copiague, NY
4.5 !F/C	21	Menniefield, MikeMike Menniefield	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	4.0 !Sr	Southside/Spartanburg Methodist	Greenville, SC
3.5 !F	25	Postell, LavorLavor Postell	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	1.0 !Fr	Westover	Albany, GA
5.0 !C	31	Hamilton, ZendonZendon Hamilton	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	3.0 !Jr	Sewanhaka	Floral Park, NY
3.5 !F	32	Grant, TyroneTyrone Grant	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 79 !6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	2.0 !So	Grady	Brooklyn, NY
3.5 !F	34	Minlend, CharlesCharles Minlend	style="text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; font-size:90%; \| 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	4.5 !RS Sr	St. Thomas More School	Cameroon, Africa

Head coach

Fran Fraschilla (Brooklyn College)

Assistant coach(es)

Ron Rutledge
Darren Savino

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site
Regular Season
11/23/96*	LIU Brooklyn	L 73-76	0-1	Alumni Hall
11/30/96*	Hofstra	W 77-54	1-1	Alumni Hall
12/03/96	Miami (F.L.)	W 61-57	2-1 (1-0)	Miami Arena
12/07/96	#5 Villanova	L 70-82	2-2 (1-1)	Madison Square Garden
12/11/96*	#5 Michigan	L 61-76	2-3	Nassau Coliseum
12/15/96*	at #17 Minnesota	L 39-77	2-4	Williams Arena
12/21/96*	Fairleigh Dickinson	W 77-50	3-4	Alumni Hall
12/26/96*	Manhattan (ECAC Holiday Festival Opening Round)	W 68-61	4-4	Madison Square Garden
12/28/96*	Georgia Tech (ECAC Holiday Festival Championship)	W 67-55	5-4	Madison Square Garden
01/02/97	at Providence	L 77-67	5-5 (1-2)	Providence Civic Center
01/04/97	Pittsburgh	W 75-64	6-5 (2-2)	Madison Square Garden
01/08/97	at Connecticut	W 71-67 ^OT	7-5 (3-2)	Gampel Pavilion
01/12/97	West Virginia	L 77-90	7-6 (3-3)	Alumni Hall
01/14/97*	at Niagara	W 62-40	8-6	Gallagher Center
01/18/97	at Pittsburgh	W 60-55	9-6 (4-3)	Fitzgerald Field House
01/21/97	at Georgetown	L 57-62	9-7 (4-4)	USAir Arena
01/25/97	Providence	L 59-72	9-8 (4-5)	Madison Square Garden
01/29/97	Rutgers	L 47-49	9-9 (4-6)	Madison Square Garden
02/01/97	Georgetown	L 68-71	9-10 (4-7)	Madison Square Garden
02/04/97	at Notre Dame	L 70-75	9-11 (4-8)	Joyce Center
02/09/97	Boston College	L 80-81 ^OT	9-12 (4-9)	Madison Square Garden
02/12/97	Syracuse	W 91-87	10-12 (5-9)	Madison Square Garden
02/15/97	at Rutgers	W 73-58	11-12 (6-9)	Louis Brown Athletic Center
02/19/97	at #19 Villanova	L 54-65	11-13 (6-10)	CoreStates Center
02/22/97	Miami (F.L.)	W 77-73	12-13 (7-10)	Alumni Hall
02/26/97	at Seton Hall	W 66-62	13-13 (8-10)	Continental Airlines Arena
Big East Tournament
03/05/97	vs. Miami (F.L.) (Big East Tournament First Round)	L 68-76 ^OT	13-14	Madison Square Garden
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

St. John's Red Storm men's basketball

Venues	Old Madison Square Garden (193?–1969) Madison Square Garden (1969–present) Carnesecca Arena (alternate; 1961–present)

Culture & lore	Johnny Thunderbird

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics