Shamorie Ponds, St. John's
In our latest installment of “Getting to Know,” we check in with one of the BIG EAST’s – and the country’s - top freshmen, St. John’s Shamorie Ponds. The 6-1 guard with the silky smooth lefty shot, who helped lead his Thomas Jefferson High School team to its first New York City Public School city title since 1954 last spring, fills us in on what other BIG EAST teams came courting him during the recruiting process, where St. John’s rated in his mind during recruiting, and why he thinks he has so much more to show on the court this season, his adjustment from high school to the grind of the BIG EAST season and how the Brooklyn native plans on helping his coach Chris Mullin off the court.
Oh, by the way, Ponds’ 17.7 scoring average to date? It’s good enough for ninth in the BIG EAST and tops both on St. John’s and among conference freshmen.
BIGEAST.com: How crazy was the recruiting process while you were at Jefferson?
PONDS: “It had some positives and some negatives, but I enjoyed it a lot. Making all those visits and meeting all those coaches that recruited me, they were great guys. It was fun and a thoughtful process.”
BIGEAST.com: What were some of the schools you visited during the process?
PONDS: “I visited Creighton, Providence and St. John’s and I took an unofficial visit to Seton Hall. There were others but I can’t remember all of them.”
BIGEAST.com: Was St. John’s always the leader in your mind?
PONDS: “Yes, they were always the leader. They were always at the top for me.”
BIGEAST.com: Were you a fan of the Red Storm while you were growing up in Brooklyn?
PONDS: “Not really because I really didn’t get a chance to watch them when I was young. But I had always heard great things about them.”
BIGEAST.com: OK, so far you have been named the BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year and have been anointed BIG EAST Freshmen of the Week a conference-leading three times already this season. So how would you say you’re freshman year is going so far?
PONDS: “Right now I’d say it’s going pretty good but I can’t let up. There is more room for improvement and there is still a long way to go.”
BIGEAST.com: Did you feel any additional pressure coming into the season because of the hype that was surrounding your arrival at St. John’s?
PONDS: “Not really because I’ve always been comfortable in my ability and I can keep away the distractions. I don’t let a lot of things get to me.”
BIGEAST.com: With the win over then-No. 13 Butler and then a road win at DePaul over the weekend, St. John’s is sitting at 2-0 in the BIG EAST and has already doubled its conference win total of a year ago. Do you guys talk about that at all?
PONDS: “Yeah we talk about that a lot. But we all know we got to keep going, we can’t stop here. We beat Butler which is a great team and then we went on the road and beat DePaul. But there are a lot of games left and we can’t be satisfied with just two wins.”
BIGEAST.com: I know you played at Madison Square Garden while you were with Jefferson. But how did it feel to walk onto the court for the first time as a college player when you faced Penn State?
PONDS: “Stepping on the court for the first time with a new team is special. There were a lot of fans there and there was a lot of hype around the game and the crowd was really into the game. It was a special day.”
BIGEAST.com: This team lost games to Delaware State and LIU Brooklyn and then posted victories at Syracuse and against nationally-ranked Butler. What changed for this team?
PONDS: “We just stayed together. Through all those losses and the wins we just stuck together and we learned from each and every game. The losses we had against Delaware State and LIU, we just learned from that. And that’s going to help us down the road when we play big teams like Villanova and Creighton.”
BIGEAST.com: Speaking of Creighton, the Bluejays are coming to town Wednesday night and then you’re playing at Xavier on Saturday after having played Butler last week. So you will have faced three nationally-ranked teams in a 10-day period. Is that a tough adjustment for a freshman, facing so many quality teams in a short time?
PONDS: “This is a big adjustment because in high school it wasn’t like this. So to go up against the top teams in the country and having to game plan for those teams, yeah it’s a big adjustment for me.”
BIGEAST.com: Do you think St. John’s can get back to those days of selling out the Garden and being a hot ticket like they were during the Chris Mullin Era?
PONDS: “If we just keep improving, improving our record and improving our games and keep working hard, I don’t see any reason why we can’t. We just have to go out there each and every game and play our hardest.”
BIGEAST.com: How much fun is it playing for a coach like Chris Mullin?
PONDS: “It’s fun because he just let’s you be yourself out there. He let’s you go out there and play your game and have some fun.”
BIGEAST.com: Now that you decided to stay home to play in front of family and friends, are you going to become a recruiter for St. John’s to help get other local talents to St. John’s?
PONDS: “Yeah I think so. That was kind of my plan. I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to play in front of your family and friends.”