1978–79 St. John's Redmen basketball team

American college basketball season

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1978–79 St. John's Redmen men's basketball
Lapchick Memorial Champions
1979 NCAA tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 17
Record	21–11
Head coach	Lou Carnesecca (11th season)
Assistant coaches	John Kresse (11th season) Tom Abatemarco (1st season) Ron Rutledge (1st season)
Captain	Tom Calabrese
Home arena	Alumni Hall Madison Square Garden
Seasons← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 St. John's Redmen basketball team represented St. John's University during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was coached by Lou Carnesecca in his eleventh year at the school. St. John's home games were (and to this day still are) played at Alumni Hall and Madison Square Garden.

Roster

1978–79 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	-	Ray James	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Fr	Alexander Hamilton	Brooklyn, NY
G	-	Ed Kennedy	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	—	Jr	Maria Regina	Merrick, NY
G/F	-	Curtis Redding	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Jr	Canarsie/Kansas State	Brooklyn, NY
G	4	Tom Calabrese (C)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Sr	Cliffside Park	Cliffside Park, NJ
G	5	Bernard Rencher	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	RS Jr	Mater Christi/Notre Dame	Elmhurst, NY
G/F	22	Ron Plair	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	So	William C. Bryant	East Elmhurst, NY
G/F	32	Gordon Thomas	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Sr	Bay Shore	Bay Shore, NY
G	35	Reggie Carter	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	RS Jr	Long Island Lutheran/Hawaii	New York, NY
F/C	-	Rick Bollinger	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Sr	River Dell	Teaneck, NJ
F	43	Frank Gilroy	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	So	Holy Cross	Whitestone, NY
F	44	Rudy Wright	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Sr	Long Island City	Queens, NY
G/F	-	Tim Cluess	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	Fr	St. Agnes	West Hempstead, NY
C	55	Wayne McKoy	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	So	Long Island Lutheran	Bayside, NY

Head coach

Lou Carnesecca (St. John's, 11th)

Assistant coach(es)

John Kresse (St. John's, 11th)
Tom Abatemarco (Dowling, 1st)
Ron Rutledge (St. John's, 1st)

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
11/24/78*		American Lapchick Tournament Opening Round	W 72-70	1-0	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
11/25/78*		Wagner Lapchick tournament championship	W 108-91	2-0	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
11/28/78*		Wisconsin	L 68-73	2-1	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/02/78*		Princeton	W 71-51	3-1	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/07/78*		Baylor	W 83-82	4-1	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/09/78*		No. 20 Georgetown	L 71-77	4-2	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/12/78*		at Columbia	L 77-90	4-3	Levien Gymnasium New York, NY
12/16/78*		BYU	W 90-83	5-3	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/22/78*		Tennessee Tech	W 100-56	6-3	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/29/78*		vs. Rutgers ECAC Holiday Festival Semifinal	L 61-72	6-4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/30/78*		vs. No. 1 Duke ECAC Holiday Festival Consolation	W 69-66	7-4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/04/79*		at Seton Hall	L 70-76	7-5	Walsh Gymnasium South Orange, NJ
01/06/79*		Temple	L 73-74	7-6	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
01/09/79*		Baltimore	W 75-52	8-6	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
01/13/79*		Rutgers	L 66-69	8-7	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
01/16/79*		at Villanova	W 74-54	9-7	The Palestra Philadelphia, PA
01/20/79*		Rhode Island	L 70-71	9-8	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
01/23/79*		at Manhattan	W 80-55	10-8	Alumni Gym Bronx, NY
01/28/79*		at Saint Joseph's	W 47-40	11-8	The Palestra Philadelphia, PA
01/31/79*		at Army	W 72-65	12-8	USMA Fieldhouse West Point, NY
02/03/79*		Niagara	W 80-52	13-8	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
02/06/79*		Boston College	W 85-76	14-8	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
02/10/79*		at Fordham	W 66-48	15-8	Rose Hill Gymnasium Bronx, NY
02/13/79*		Holy Cross	W 82-66	16-8	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
02/17/79*		at No. 7 Syracuse	L 72-79	16-9	Manley Field House Syracuse, NY
02/24/79*		Providence	W 70-65	17-9	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
ECAC Metro tournament
03/01/79		vs. Wagner ECAC Metro Semifinal	W 86-82	18-9	Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY
03/03/79		vs. Iona ECAC Metro Final	L 57-63	18-10	Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY
NCAA tournament
03/09/79*	No. 17	vs. No. 13 (7) Temple NCAA First Round	W 75-70	19-10	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
03/11/79*	No. 17	vs. No. 6 (2) Duke NCAA Second Round	W 80-78	20-10	Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC
03/16/79*	No. 17	vs. No. 18 (6) Rutgers NCAA Sweet Sixteen	W 67-65	21-10	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
03/18/79*	No. 17	vs. No. 14 (9) Penn NCAA Elite Eight	L 62-64	21-11	Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

Main article: 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	27	Reggie Carter	New York Knicks
10	189	Gordon Thomas	New York Knicks

References

v t e 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)
Rivalries	Fordham Georgetown
Culture & lore	Gambling scandal Johnny Thunderbird
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of 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 1999–2000 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 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

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