St. John's University Athletics
2003-04 Review
11/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Years from now, the won-loss record will just be a mark on the history books. The record - 6-21 - will simply be a number.
The St. John's men's basketball team won only six games, and lost 21 of them.
It was the worst win-loss record in program history in one of the most tumultuous and wild seasons St. John's basketball has ever seen.
But it was the final eight games of the season - when the Red Storm team dressed four scholarship players and four walk-on's - that told anyone all they needed to know about St. John's basketball.
While the team posted only one win in those last eight games - a thrilling 65-58 win over Georgetown at Madison Square Garden - the hard work, dedication to team and to the University those eight players showed caught the eyes of Red Storm fans in New York, the local media and the world of college basketball.
Freshman guard Daryll Hill, who would scored at least 20 points in the final seven games of the season, started all but one of the team's 27 games and led the team in scoring with 14.8 points per game. An All-Met third-team selection, Hill ranked seventh in the BIG EAST with 18.2 points per game in league action.
The team was led by a pair of seniors - Kyle Cuffe and Curtis Johnson. Cuffe, a part-time starter during his four years, was the elder statesman who had been through the wars before, scoring the game-winning basket against Kentucky as a freshman and being a major contributor to the team's NIT Championship in 2003. Johnson, meanwhile, was the spiritual leader for this team. He battled back from numerous injuries and when the team needed him this season, he was able to step up and help them along the way.
Cuffe finished the season averaging 11.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, ranking ninth in the BIG EAST in that category. Down the stretch, when he was playing nearly every minute of every game, he recorded three double-doubles. Johnson started all eight games and showed that he could be a steady contributor to the team, averaging more than 20 minutes a game, and scoring a career-high 14 points against Providence.
Perhaps the brightest spot of all went to the four walk-on's, juniors Phil Missere and Joe McDonald, sophomore Nygel Roach and freshman Devin Mayo. Thrust into the spotlight - Missere started the final eight games, averaging 5.3 points and 5.4 rebounds - the players gave their all in their chance to play. In many instances, they knew that many people thought the outcome of the game was a foregone conclusion. But it did not deny their spirit, it did not deny their energy and it did not deny their pursuit of wearing the St. John's uniform.
