Sports

St. John’s Harrison maturing fast as season opens

There is no more tantalizing story line in this town than that of a talented athlete trying to overcome his inner demons and become all he can be.

Consider this:

On the eve of the season opener for a young, talented St. John’s team, the outlook for this squad was not the focus of talk yesterday at Taffner Fieldhouse.

Nor was it the fact that today’s opponent, Detroit, waxed the Red Storm last year in Motown. Or the wonderful return to the sidelines of head coach Steve Lavin, who is cancer free.

No, the talk was the maturation of guard D’Angelo Harrison, the emotionally volatile sophomore who was benched by Lavin for the Red Storm’s last preseason game.

It was the strongest message the coaching staff has sent Harrison, who could be an elite college player and the Red Storm’s leader.

“He’s been great this past week,’’ said Lavin. “D’Angelo, across the board, he has been outstanding.’’

Harrison is an outstanding shooter, a born scorer and a basketball-savvy player. But he can be as grounded as Taylor Swift or as imprudent as Lindsay Lohan.

No wonder Lavin, Harrison, guard Phil “The Rock” Greene and swingman Sir’Dominic Pointer faced a combined 21 questions (plus one which Lavin interpreted was about Harrison) about the Maturation of D’Angelo.

“He’s showing that he’s maturing at a fast pace because he knows Coach Lav is not going to take what happened last year, him yelling at the refs and stuff,’’ said Pointer. “Coach Lav wants him to challenge his energy the right way.’’

Harrison, who averaged a team-leading 16.8 points per game last season, was only called for one technical foul. But he might have led college basketball in fuzzy eyeball looks at refs, stare downs with opponents and disillusioned looks at interim coach Mike Dunlap.

Harrison will come off the bench today. How long before he returns to the starting lineup (he started 29 of 32 games last season) is up to Harrison.

“You should be almost like a machine,’’ said Harrison. “Stuff shouldn’t bother you. Referees shouldn’t bother you in how you play the game. Little things.’’

The Maturation of D’Angelo is the biggest story at St. John’s. Stay tuned.

* Lavin had received no word from the NCAA on the eligibility of foreign-born players Orlando Sanchez and Marc-Antoine Bourgault, who are awaiting clearance.

* Pointer, a relentless defender from Detroit, will be defending the Titans’ terrific point guard Ray McCallum today.

McCallum had 22 points and six assists in Detroit’s season-opening 88-53 win over Northern Michigan and 21 in the Titans’ 69-63 win over St. John’s last season.