St. John's University Athletics
1985 Final Four Anniversary Press Conference Quotes
2/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2010
Former St. John’s Head Coach Lou Carnesecca
Opening statement on the 1985 team
“There have been a lot of great teams at St. John’s. Going back to the first time I saw them play …great teams. Of course you had the ’52 team, a heck of a team – the one that played in Seattle. That was coach (Frank) McGuire. Then of course you had coach Lapchick’s teams in ’59 and one that was excellent in ’65. And we had a nice team too. People forget about that team: ’82. It was a good team. And then of course you come to the Final Four. I think I’ve said this many times. If we didn’t go to the Final Four, that would’ve been a terrible disappointment to us. People expected us to go. We had all these fellows coming back and then the addition of Walter Berry. People were saying, ‘They’re going to go.’ They were a good team to coach. They were a wonderful team. I didn’t have to coach these guys. As I’ve said, anyone could have coached them. All they needed to know was the difference between a bocce ball and a basketball. But they were all marvelous guys. They got along well not only on the court, off the court. They had a feeling for each other. They knew each other. They knew each other probably from grammar school through somewhere in high school. So the chemistry was there. All we had to do was beat…who? The big guy from Georgetown. That was it. We had good games with (Georgetown), but sometimes you can’t win everything. Don’t ask me why, but you can’t. And coaching these guys was just a delight.”
On why it has been challenging to match the success of the 1985 Final Four team and keep players like Chris Mullin and Bill Wennington in New York
“First of all, I’ve been away from the scene, even though from right here I can still see it. These fellows made everything possible. When you get players of this caliber and this make-up, then you’re going to be successful. They loved to play the game. They loved to stay here or the state of New York. And don’t forget, they were playing in the greatest arena in the world. Now I’m not getting 25 percent here. It still is the greatest venue in the world. And they loved to play in front of their people and that’s what you want them for. Everybody talks basketball in this town. It’s a basketball town. I remember talking about the Yankees or the Mets or the Giants or the Jets. It’s a basketball town. It is and they know basketball. So, what is the reason? I think... Or maybe one guy can turn it around. Get one guy that can ignite this team and you can turn it around. That’s all you need. You don’t need a hundred like football. You need a couple of guys and a pretty smart coach. So, I don’t know. It’s probably more complex than maybe I’d like to put it.”
Former St. John’s Player Bill Wennington
On if it was easy coaching the 1985 team and if it is hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the Final Four run
“Yes, we needed a coach. I mean how else was I supposed to clear the way for Chris. Which, by the way, came in very handy when I got to Chicago. You’ve got to have a plan and from what I’ve learned in my brief basketball experiences, to win you’ve got to have passion for the game and you’ve got to win. But once you have that, you’ve got to have a plan for everyone to follow. Every successful team has had a coach that has a plan that everyone buys into. And (Lou Carnesecca) made it fun for everyone and he made it a family atmosphere. He made it fun to come out and play every day. It’s harder being a college athlete than it is being a professional athlete. As a professional athlete, you go to practice and you’ve got the day off. You don’t have to worry about anything else except maybe paying your taxes. Of course, that’s not that great. But anyway, (as a college athlete) you’ve got to worry about class, you’ve got all of this stuff you’ve got to do. So it was actually harder to be a college athlete than it was being a professional athlete because you have to worry about more things, not just playing. But after a couple of tests, a couple of hard classes, coming to practice was fun and he made it that way. And when you play with guys like Chris (Mullin) and I see Steve (Shurina) right there, these guys love to be in the gym. So every day going to practice – it wasn’t a job, it wasn’t work, it was fun. And we really became a family. Has it been 25 years? It goes by really fast. I have a lot of memories coming back here to this building. You walk out to the court and it seems like it was just last year we were getting ready for the BIG EAST championship game against Georgetown. So, time flies but it definitely was some of the best years of my life and I hold them near and dear to my heart all the time.”
On whether the NCAA should expand its tournament to a format with more teams
“I like it the way it is. Of course, I mean if you want to drag it out and everything’s getting commercialized and everyone’s looking to make things bigger. I mean, obviously, the more schools that are in it, the more schools that would like it. It works pretty good right now. I’m someone that’s much more old school than not. So I don’t see what the problem is other than if there’s 64 there are going to be a lot of teams disappointed that they didn’t get in. Is another week of basketball going to make it better? Because once you do that, then why don’t we make it 300 teams? It’s got to get cut off somewhere and unfortunately, always there’s going to be teams left out. That’s just the way it goes. It’s like overtime in football.”
On how it would feel to see St. John’s among the NCAA’s top teams
“Of course it’d be great. As we talked about earlier, it’s a camaraderie you have with players. So whatever two teams meet, whenever it is, you see guys and you kid each other about it, ‘My school’s playing your school.’ It’d be great to see St. John’s up there in the rankings again. Obviously, St. John’s is near and dear to my heart all the time, so you’re proud when they’re one of the top-ranked schools in the game and they’re getting to the tournament or a big game on ESPN and they do well against a ranked team. But that’s what you live for as an athlete – just so you can bust somebody’s chops in the locker room. That’s what it’s all about.”
Former St. John’s Player Chris Mullin
On if it was easy coaching the 1985 team and if it is hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the Final Four run
“I agree with a lot of what Bill said. Coach was good by the way, believe it or not. But I think first of all, he got us to come here. That was the first step. I know Bill was heavily recruited. We played against each other in high school when he was a Lutheran. We visited a lot of the same schools…but we both wound up at St. John’s because of coach Carnesecca. That in itself says a lot. As far as playing for coach, he taught the game. He wouldn’t admit it. Steve (Shurina) would know. We were there – and they changed the rule now because of you – from 3:30 to 7:30 because the law students used to come in and beg us to get off the court. Coach was like, ‘One more. Run one more.’ But as he taught us the game, he also taught us life lessons about each other. We had a wonderful team, a great group of guys. Looking back it was some of the best years of my life for sure. And fun was what stood out. Even in pressure-packed games, coach had a way of making it light, but we knew we were well-prepared. The big wins were always enjoyable but he always had a similar outlook when we had tough losses.”
On whether the NCAA should expand its tournament to a format with more teams
“I feel like, the way it is…I haven’t really thought too much about it. Not being involved in it makes it easy for me to say keep it the same way. But I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other.”
On why he decided to stay and play in New York
“I can speak why I stayed. First and foremost reason is coach Carnesecca. I have a close relationship in him and I have a tremendous amount of faith and belief in him and everything else came from that. St. John’s has a tremendous basketball tradition. When I used to go and watch the games even at Alumni Hall, it was appealing to me. I wanted to be on the floor and a part of that. And then playing (at Madison Square Garden). We got to play here in the preseason and of course the games increased as we got better. It was a treat and practice was a treat. To me it wouldn’t change. Even after 25 years, I’d do the same thing.”
On how it would feel to see St. John’s among the NCAA’s top teams
“I think it’s important. Not only for the school, it’s important for New York to have a good team. When you’re talking about a great team, it makes it that much better. In New York I do think that kids will take notice and stay. But I do think it’s an important part of St. John’s University. It always has been with a great history. And I think it’s nice to have with a big-time team playing in this arena come March and hopefully that will happen.”
