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

American college basketball season

1996–1997 St. John's Red Storm men's basketball
ECAC Holiday Festival Champions
Conference	Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Record	13–14 (8–10 Big East)
Head coach	Fran Fraschilla (1st year)
Assistant coaches	Ron Rutledge Darren Savino Brian Cousins
Home arena	Alumni Hall Madison Square Garden
Seasons← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Big East men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Big East 6
No. 20 Villanova	12	–	6	.667	24	–	10	.706
No. 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 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

College recruiting information
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	Star ratings: 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	Star ratings: 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	Star ratings: 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	Previous school	Hometown
G	3	Chudney Gray	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	Fr	Rice	Bronx, NY
G	4	Tarik Turner	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Jr	Oak Hill	Charlottesville, VA
G	10	Kareem Syed	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Fr	Hillcrest	Queens, NY
G	11	Collin Charles	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	Fr	Eastern Commerce	Toronto, Ontario
G	13	Felipe López	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Jr	Rice	Santo Domingo, D.R.
F	14	Ed Brown	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	So	Copiague	Copiague, NY
F/C	21	Mike Menniefield	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	Sr	Southside/Spartanburg Methodist	Greenville, SC
F	25	Lavor Postell	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Fr	Westover	Albany, GA
C	31	Zendon Hamilton	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Jr	Sewanhaka	Floral Park, NY
F	32	Tyrone Grant	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	So	Grady	Brooklyn, NY
F	34	Charles Minlend	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	RS Sr	St. Thomas More School	Yaounde, Cameroon

Head coach

Fran Fraschilla (Brooklyn College)

Assistant coach(es)

Ron Rutledge
Darren Savino
Brian Cousins

Legend

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

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
11/23/96*	LIU Brooklyn	L 73-76	0-1	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
11/30/96*	Hofstra	W 77-54	1-1	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/03/96	Miami (F.L.)	W 61-57	2-1 (1-0)	Miami Arena Miami, FL
12/07/96	No. 5 Villanova	L 70-82	2-2 (1-1)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/11/96*	No. 5 Michigan	L 61-76	2-3	Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY
12/15/96*	at No. 17 Minnesota	L 39-77	2-4	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
12/21/96*	Fairleigh Dickinson	W 77-50	3-4	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
12/26/96*	Manhattan ECAC Holiday Festival Semifinal	W 68-61	4-4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
12/28/96*	Georgia Tech ECAC Holiday Festival Championship	W 67-55	5-4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/02/97	at Providence	W 77-67	5-5 (1-2)	Providence Civic Center Providence, RI
01/04/97	Pittsburgh	W 75-64	6-5 (2-2)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/08/97	at Connecticut	W 71-67	7-5 (3-2)	Gampel Pavilion Storrs, CT
01/12/97	West Virginia	L 77-90	7-6 (3-3)	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
01/14/97*	at Niagara	W 62-40	8-6	Gallagher Center Niagara, NY
01/18/97	at Pittsburgh	W 60-55	9-6 (4-3)	Fitzgerald Field House Pittsburgh, PA
01/21/97	at Georgetown	L 57-62	9-7 (4-4)	USAir Arena Landover, MD
01/25/97	Providence	L 59-72	9-8 (4-5)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
01/29/97	Rutgers	L 47-49	9-9 (4-6)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/01/97	Georgetown	L 68-71	9-10 (4-7)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/04/97	at Notre Dame	L 70-75	9-11 (4-8)	Joyce Center Notre Dame, IN
02/09/97	Boston College	L 80-81	9-12 (4-9)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/12/97	Syracuse	W 91-87	10-12 (5-9)	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
02/15/97	at Rutgers	W 73-58	11-12 (6-9)	Louis Brown Athletic Center Piscataway, NJ
02/19/97	at No. 19 Villanova	L 54-65	11-13 (6-10)	CoreStates Center Philadelphia, PA
02/22/97	Miami (F.L.)	W 77-73	12-13 (7-10)	Alumni Hall Queens, NY
02/26/97	at Seton Hall	W 66-62	13-13 (8-10)	Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford, NJ
Big East tournament
03/05/97	vs. Miami (F.L.) Big East tournament first round	L 68-76	13-14	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

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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