Another offseason, another key loss for the St. John’s basketball team. Shooting guard Larry Wright, one of the Red Storm’s most popular players, and swingman Mike Cavataio, a St. John’s fan from the crib, are the latest to leave St. John’s.
According to a statement released yesterday by St. John’s coach Norm Roberts, Wright, the Red Storm’s best 3-point shooter, was leaving “because of the recent discovery of an illness involving a member of his immediate family.”
But when reached by The Post, Wright acknowledged that although a disc problem that has been plaguing his mother’s back since mid-season had gotten worse, his more pressing reason for leaving was the chance to have a more prominent role.
Wright said he will look at a Big Ten, ACC or other major conference school. So much for staying closer to home. “I like St. John’s and I like Coach Roberts,” Wright told The Post. “It wasn’t his fault. We both felt there was stuff I needed to work on, things I needed to do to be on the court more.”
Wright, who will have two more years of eligibility, averaged 9.1 points on 40.2 percent from behind the arc. He said he hadn’t been in contact with other schools but his high school coach was working on it.
The transfers of Wright and Cavataio, who played in 17 just games as a freshman and probably is better suited to a MAAC or CAA program, continues an unsettling trend in the Roberts era. They are the eighth and ninth players to leave and that doesn’t include Derwin Kitchen, who enrolled but didn’t qualify academically.