While most of you were sleeping Sunday morning, St. John's was searching for a few good men. It was pitch-black outside, but the lights were on full blast in Taffner Field House when assistant coach Mike Dunlap blew his whistle at 5:51 a.m. With that, 26 prospective men's basketball players gathered around Dunlap at midcourt, to begin a morning that none of them will likely ever forget. Less than 48 hours earlier, St. John's had staged a rousing Midnight Madness celebration next door at Carnesecca Arena, to officially tip off the 2011-12 season. But there were only eight players to introduce to the crowd. After three incoming freshmen were declared academically ineligible last month, the Johnnies were suddenly faced with a serious dilemma -- they don't even have enough bodies to play five-on-five in practice. Hence, the coaching staff decided to hold an open tryout for walk-on players, with the potential of adding as many as five or six to the roster, according to head coach Steve Lavin. "We'll have a strong student engagement," Lavin joked back in September. The head coach was not present Sunday morning, as he continues his recovery from prostate cancer surgery. So Dunlap took the reins, with fellow assistant coach Tony Chiles watching from the sideline. Read more: http://espn.go.com/new-york/story/_/id/7111524/st-john-red-storm-looking-good-men
