St. John’s got some great news on the injury front this week when center Mohamed Diakite was able to scrimmage for the first time since herniating a disc in his back in mid-January.
Diakite, who the Red Storm feared would have to have potential career-ending back surgery, will not have to go under the knife if his current progress continues. Diakite scrimmaged for about 20 minutes Monday and showed no ill effects.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that he’ll be able to play next season,” trainer Ron Linfonte told The Post. “We’ll keep increasing his minutes, but the real test will come when he plays in a game and we see how he responds.”
Shooting guard Willie Shaw, who was hampered all season by tendinitis in his left knee, also won’t have to have off-season surgery. Although the cyst in his knee remains, Linfonte said that Shaw has been so diligent about rehabbing and strengthening the ligaments, tendons and muscles around the knee that he is back playing without discomfort.
Linfonte said that Shaw is restricted to playing only on wood surfaces. Playing on macadam or any hard surface could inflame the knee.
“With Willie, it was more of a mental thing,” St. John’s coach Mike Jarvis said. “The surgery was there as a safety net, but we were hoping with the proper rest and treatment it would respond.”
Shaw averaged 13.8 points as a freshman and big things were expected of him as a sophomore. But the knee plagued him from the start of the season, forcing him to undergo an MRI. The former Kennedy HS star averaged just 6.8 points last season.
Shaw did not accompany the team to the NCAA Tournament for a violation of team rules. As reported exclusively in The Post, Shaw tested positive for marijuana. Jarvis has maintained a no-comment policy on Shaw’s suspension.
But when asked if Shaw would still be on the team if he had committed any additional infractions, Jarvis said, “If that were the case, we’d probably do that.”
Diakite played his last game Jan. 17. He averaged 2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds. The 6-11 center has a nice touch and a great work ethic but he must gain more basketball experience to be a factor.
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Long before Lenny Cooke announced that he was bypassing college for the NBA Draft, St. John’s set its sights on finding an athletic forward who could be a force around the basket.
The Red Storm found that player in Alabama junior college star Grady Reynolds, a 6-foot-7 dynamo who played at the same high school as former Auburn star Chris Porter. Ron Radford, Reynolds’ coach at Southern Union State Community College, said his star player signed a letter of intent Tuesday morning to attend St. John’s.
Reynolds averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. He chose St. John’s over Mississippi, Alabama-Birmingham and San Francisco. Reynolds visited the last weekend in April.
“He can play at any major conference in the country and play well,” Radford said. “He’s a great kid who wanted to experience a different part of the country.”