St. John’s Fires Mahoney as Coach

Brian Mahoney on Monday was dismissed as coach of St. John’s, which finished 11-16, its worst record in 33 years, and lost to Providence, 80-72, in the first round of the Big East tournament.

It was Mahoney’s third consecutive nonwinning season in his four years since replacing Lou Carnesecca. Athletic Director Ed Manetta said Mahoney was “asked to step down.”

Mahoney had completed the third year of a seven-year contract.

Among the names that have surfaced as possible replacements are Tom Penders of Texas, Fran Fraschilla of Manhattan and Mike Jarvis of George Washington.

Mahoney succeeded Carnesecca in 1992 after serving as his assistant for 16 seasons. In Mahoney’s first season, St. John’s was 19-11 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. He was honored as Big East coach of the year.

The team finished 12-17 and 14-14 the next two seasons.

Injuries played a factor in his second season as leading scorer and rebounder Shawnelle Scott was lost in early February because of a broken thumb. Last season, guards Derek Brown and Fred Lyson had to redshirt after sustaining serious injuries during preseason practice.

This season, senior Charles Minlend, the team’s top rebounder, was forced to redshirt after sustaining a serious hamstring injury even before practice got under way.

Mahoney was able to recruit two of the nation’s most sought-after high school players in Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton, who just completed their sophomore seasons. The hype surrounding Lopez’s arrival was unparalleled in the New York area and the 6-foot-6 guard was never able to live up to it even with solid statistics.

Mahoney took the brunt of the criticism for Lopez’s lack of improvement in skills such as shooting, passing and defense.

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Duke guard Chris Collins is expected to be almost full speed when the Blue Devils play their opening round NCAA Southeast Regional game against Eastern Michigan.

But guard Steve Wojciechowski remains on crutches after an ankle sprain against Maryland.

With his foot mostly healed, Collins is still recovering from a 102-degree fever from last weekend. But he’s expected to play in Thursday’s game between eighth-seeded Duke (18-12) and ninth-seeded Eastern Michigan (24-5).

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The top four teams in the final poll of the season match the top four seeds in the NCAA tournament. Sort of.

Massachusetts, which retook the No. 1 position, Kentucky, which dropped to No. 2, and Connecticut, which held third, are three of the top-seeded teams.

The fourth No. 1 seed is Purdue, which is one of three teams to hold the No. 4 spot in the poll as the Boilermakers, Kansas and Georgetown finished in a tie for that spot. Research of polls since 1975-76 showed no other three-way tie.

The Minutemen (31-1), who were ranked No. 1 for nine consecutive weeks until dropping to No. 2 for the last two polls, easily moved back on top, again switching places with Kentucky (28-2).

The two held the top spots for the final 12 polls of the season.

Arizona was ranked 11th and UCLA 14th.