25 St. John's

The 10 pounds of bulk St. John's point guard Erick Barkley added this summer could have come in handy last March. With 10 seconds left and his team trailing Ohio State by two in the South regional final, the freshman drove the lane only to have Scoonie Penn nudge him and cause the ball to trickle off Barkley's leg and into the hands of an Ohio State defender. "I blamed myself [for the loss]," says Barkley, even though it was his only turnover. "I thought about that game for two weeks"—and, he admits, he cried a lot the first day.

But then Barkley went to work. During the summer he won a gold medal with the USA Basketball team at the World University Games in Spain and another gold with the New York City team at the Empire State Games in Stony Brook, N.Y. He also benefited from two weeks of workouts in Atlanta with New Jersey Nets guard Stephon Marbury, an old New York City pal. And what did he learn? "It's all about confidence," says Barkley. "My talent will take care of itself."

With versatile swingman Ron Artest and leading rebounder Tyrone Grant having left St. John's for the NBA Barkley, guard Marvis (Bootsy) Thornton and forward Lavor Postell will all have to shoulder a much larger load for a team that featured uncannily balanced scoring last season. (Five players averaged between 10.5 and 14-9 points as the Red Storm won 28 games to become one of the biggest surprises of the season.) Coach Mike Jarvis, who took over when Fran Fraschilla was abruptly fired, is also hoping that 6'6", 225-pound strongman Anthony Glover, who sat out last season as an academic nonqualifier, can provide some relief on the boards.

Says Thornton, who made his mark by dropping 40 points on Duke in January, "Last year, when we didn't have a coach [after Fraschilla left], no one thought we'd do anything. Then Mike Jarvis came, and they said we were too small. Then we started to win, and everybody said it was a fluke. I hope people overlook us this year—then we can sneak up on them again."

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