Sylven Landesberg stood at the podium during a press conference yesterday holding a copy of his speech that ended with “In September, 2008, I will attend . . .” leaving his choice unspecified until he read it.
But when he took off his sports jacket and revealed a white University of Virginia t-shirt, his decision was clear, striking another blow to St. John’s hopes of regaining its spot among the elite in the Big East.
“It was very tough,” the Holy Cross senior said of his choice of Virginia over St. John’s and Georgia Tech.
The defending CHSAA Player of the Year, as well as his coach and family, insisted that the Red Storm were in the running to gain his services and sounded confident that Norm Roberts & Co. would soon get a recruit like the 6-5 guard.
“I think they are very close to getting a player like that, a top recruit,” Landesberg said at his Queens school. “I don’t see why they would have a problem getting people in.”
And according to Landesberg, Wednesday’s incident, in which a St. John’s student was arrested for carrying a loaded rifle on campus, had no effect on where he was going to school.
“They did everything right,” Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary said. “This might be read as a slight to St. John’s, but it’s not. I think they’re on the right track.”
But after recruiting him for over two years, they will have to get to their destination without Landesberg – the kind of player they had hoped to build around.
“I see Virginia as a program on the rise,” said Landesberg, who also drew interest from defending champion Florida. “I think I’ll be able to play right away and we can do some great things.”