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Assigned Reading: St. John’s pulls together through adversity

Big East Basketball Tournament - Second Round - St John's v Villanova

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 13: Head coach Steve Lavin of the St. John’s Red Storm shouts instructions to his team against Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 13, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

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St. John’s and head coach Steve Lavin have dealt with a lot of trying times in the last couple of seasons, including Lavin’s own battle with prostate cancer, the loss of Lavin’s father, Albert, as well as a number of tragic incidents that involved family members and friends of players on St. John’s.

In this fantastic read from Nate Taylor of The New York Times, we get an insight of how the Red Storm has had to weather so many tragedies together as a team and how it has made them stronger.

Lavin knows communication is vital, and he believes that it is the main reason his team has stuck together and matured through times of sorrow, including his own. In the past two years, family members or friends of four Red Storm players — Sir’Dominic Pointer, Phil Greene, Christian Jones and Rysheed Jordan — have died in shootings or automobile accidents.

It is nice to see that at St. John’s teammates are there rallying for each other and looking out for their own when tragedy strikes. At 9-5, the Red Storm have had an up-and-down start to the season, but they are no doubt a stronger team on and off the floor because of it. St. John’s will have a major test today at home in a Big East contest against No. 8 Villanova.

You can read the full version of Taylor’s story on St. John’s here.

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