St. John's Shamorie Ponds
Year Two of the Chris Mullin Era at St. John’s was so much more enjoyable in Queens than Year One.
First off, there was the six-game improvement in wins for the Johnnies in BIG EAST play after a forgettable one-win campaign in Mullin’s maiden voyage. But reasons two and three were even more promising for St. John’s future prospects - the arrival of fab freshmen guards Shamorie Ponds and Marcus LoVett.
And if last season was just a taste of what St. John’s fans can expect from the two unanimous BIG EAST All-Freshman Team picks, the future, indeed, looks bright for the Red Storm as the pair are back for their second go-round in the BIG EAST.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” Mullin said of his dynamic duo. “They both had great seasons last year and had a lot of minutes on the floor.”
Ponds was outstanding in his debut season, scoring 573 points to set a school record for points by a freshman. (He broke D’Angelo Harrison’s mark of 544.) Ponds led the Johnnies and was fifth in the conference with a 17.4 points-per-game average, ranked fifth in the BIG EAST with an 82.5 percent free throw average and was a five-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week last season.
“Well, he had a historical season last year, scoring the most points ever by a St. John’s freshman,” Mullin said. “When you look at the history of the program, that’s pretty significant. But I think he’s stronger, quicker, has a better understanding of what it takes and I think he’s going to have a great season.”
LoVett, Ponds’ wingman, was not too shabby himself as he averaged 15.9 points a game to place second on the team and was also the Johnnies’ assist leader. He also shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line, good for sixth in the conference, right behind Ponds.
LoVett said he will use the valuable experience he earned last year to become more of a leader this time around.
“Just being a leader for the team, and helping lead the team to where we want to get to, that’s pretty much what I’m doing during practice every day,” LoVett said.
Both Ponds and LoVett say they have become closer after last season both on and off the court.
“We play really well off each other because most of my shots come from him and most of his shots come from me,” Ponds said. “We just have a chemistry. We know each other on the court whether we have the ball or not.”
“We are always talking to each other after practices, eating together, texting each other and stuff like that is always important,” LoVett said. “That kind of stuff is going to make our relationship better both on and off the court. And that’s better for the team going forward. We just have to keep building on what we have.”
As wonderful a tandem as LoVett and Ponds are, Mullin is excited to have some quality added on his roster this season in the form of Justin Simon and Marvin Clark II, to go along with returnees Bashir Ahmed (13.4 points, 5.5 rebounds) and the shot-blocking duo of Tariq Owens and Kassoum Yakwe, who combined for 133 swats last season.
Simon and Clark II are two Mullin is looking for major contributions from this season.
“I feel like they will have a tremendous impact,” Mullin said. “Both Marvin and Justin come from tremendous basketball programs and two great coaches (Michigan State and Tom Izzo for Clark II, Arizona and Sean Miller for Simon) and having them here for a year with individual training...it really helps us. If you just look at them physically, you can see that they are two guys who we did not physically have on our roster last season. Add the fact that they have college experience and maturity (and) that will be a huge plus for us.”
Ponds said he can’t wait to see what happens when both Simon and Clark II hit the floor for the first time beginning with the Johnnies’ season opener vs. New Orleans on Nov. 10 at Carnesecca Arena.
“I believe Justin is going to have a huge impact,” Ponds said. “He’s a long guard who can defend well against some of the best offensive players, and he’s a facilitator. He can get the ball to the open guy. He’s such a big guard and he’s going to have a big impact. Marvin is great because he can guard the one through the five and he can shoot. I believe the impact is going to be just what we need.”
So with a full season under the belts of both Ponds and LoVett, plus the arrival of some quality transfers in Clark II and Simon, are the Johnnies ready to improve on their 7-11 record and eighth-place finish in the BIG EAST?
“We feel we are,” Mullin said. “I’m not quite sure I would have diagrammed the first two years the way they went, but that’s not a bad thing, either. To go through those things and endure, I think there is a lot to be said about going through adversity and handling it the right way. From that standpoint we’ve put ourselves in another position to take a positive step. This step is much harder though.”