St. John’s media and fans saw the public Steve Lavin yesterday, wearing a natty charcoal gray suit, Clorox-white shirt, diagonally striped navy and off-white tie and a smile that looked like the giant Hollywood sign.
What few have seen, as Lavin has kept practices closed, is a demanding, relentless, approach to transforming the Red Storm from gritty contenders to winners.
Practice is no longer at 4 p.m., it’s at 6 a.m.
“To be honest, the first time my alarm went off, I wanted to cry,” said senior point guard Malik Boothe, not the only player to have been pushed to the breaking point by Lavin; his drill sergeant, Mike Dunlap; and assistants Rico Hines, Tony Chiles and veteran Gene Keady, who roared to Lavin in a recent practice that the players had such lousy spacing, one grenade could kill them all.
“There were more than a few times I wanted to walk away,” said Sean Evans, the enigmatic power forward. “It took me a while to realize they want what’s best for me. I would be giving 95 percent and they wanted 100. That’s what they better get.”
And they don’t care whom they get it from. At Saturday’s closed scrimmage, Lavin’s starting five consisted of Boothe, D.J. Kennedy. Paris Horne, Dwight Hardy and true freshman Dwayne Polee Jr. of Los Angeles.
Anyone seen a big man?
Lavin said the Red Storm’s greatest strength is the galvanized belief among the 10 seniors they can make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their careers. The weakness is they are unproven at the most important time of the season.
“They were tied for 13th [in the Big East last year],” Lavin said. “There’s no positive spin.”
There are no more mulligans for the seniors. And Lavin, who was lured out of a lucrative TV gig, did not take the St. John’s job to give those who questioned his coaching acumen at UCLA more fodder.
“It’s a very professional approach with these guys,” Kennedy told The Post. “They’re about winning. Playing hard, that’s expected. Winning needs to be expected.”
Lavin loves Boothe’s toughness, but laments the lack of a true backup point guard and wonders if any other player has his 5-foot-8 floor leader’s steel.
Lavin said Hardy is as good a shooter as he has coached, and believes Justin Brownlee would be an all-around talent. Kennedy could be the key cog in the offense.
“We’re going to need a number of players to have their career best years,” Lavin said.
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Center Norvel Pelle of California is set to visit this weekend. He remains the biggest prize on the Red Storm’s board. . . . Power forward Justin Burrell will have his broken hand examined. He’s making good progress and could be ready for the opener.