St. John’s Ponds Talks U19 Camp, Says It’s a ‘Failure’ if Red Storm Miss NCAA Tournament

St. John’s guard Shamorie Ponds is one of 27 players in Colorado Springs, Colo., trying out for the USA U19 team coached by Kentucky’s John Calipari, but as he looks ahead to his sophomore season he says it will be a “failure” if the Red Storm don’t make the NCAA Tournament.

“Personally, I believe it’s a failure [if we don’t],” he said Monday night by phone.

Ponds believes St. John’s is developing and should contend for a spot in the Big Dance in 2018.

“I think Chris Mullin’s first year was a bad year,” he said. “This year was a better improvement and we see what we can do when we play together and the teams we could beat like Syracuse, Butler, Marquette, Seton Hall. So I just believe that if we just stick to what Chris Mullin and the coaching staff is doing, it’s no doubt in my mind we should have a spot in the NCAA Tournament.”

Shamorie Ponds Could be Third St. John’s Player in Six Years to Win Big East Rookie of the Year Honors

St. John’s freshman Shamorie Ponds on Monday was named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the third time in the last month, raising the possibility that he could become the third Red Storm player in the last six years to win Big East Freshman of the Year honors.

Moe Harkless (Trail Blazers) won the award in 2012 and JaKarr Sampson (Iowa Energy) captured it in 2013.

Only one other rookie in the league, Justin Patton of Creighton, has claimed Big East Freshman of the Week honors on multiple occasions this season (Nov. 28 and Dec. 5).

Ponds, a rookie out of Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson High School, became the first Big East rookie this season to claim the league’s freshman of the week honors three times following a stretch that saw he and Bashir Ahmed lead the Red Storm to victories over No.13 Butler at Carnesecca Arena and DePaul on the road.  The win over the Bulldogs marked the first triumph for the Red Storm on campus against a ranked opponent since 1998 and the first win overall against a Top 25 opponent since a victory over Doug McDermott and Creighton on Feb. 9, 2014.

Shamorie Ponds Explodes for 26 as St. John’s Smokes Fordham

By CHRIS BARCA NEW YORK---The season may only