After 'Special' Game, Steve Lavin Relishes Moment With Mentor, Gene Keady

Filed under: Pittsburgh, Big East, St. John's

NEW YORK -- Inside the twisting hallway bowels of Madison Square Garden -- with the crowd still buzzing over St. John's guard Dwight Hardy's winning, last-seconds, underhanded, scoop-and-flip-under-the-basket shot -- two men embraced on a red carpet. The coach and the coach's coach.

Steve Lavin was brought to St. John's to orchestrate a resurrection. Lavin like Lazarus for a languishing basketball program that once reveled in moments like this. St. John's beat the nation's No. 4 team, Pittsburgh, 60-59, here on Saturday afternoon. It was an old-fashioned, stare-the-bully-down game, the kind that this city's astute basketball fans, with exaltation, ogle and gobble.

It was a moment for Lavin to relish with his coach.

"You know, it's good to reflect for a moment, savor this,'' Lavin said. "In our business, it's always the next game, on to the next challenge. But I'm not sure if this moment right here isn't one of the most special ever for St. John's and maybe even for the Garden. That was a very special basketball game. I was sharing that with Gene. He knows.''

Gene is Gene Keady, Lavin's basketball mentor -- the coach's coach.

Source: http://ncaabasketball.fanhouse.com/2011/02/19/after-special-game-steven-lavin-relishes-moment-with-mentor/

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