FanHouse St.JohnsRedStorm

That is "Thunder" the presently retired, and generally forgotten mascot of the St. John's Red Storm from the 90s. After mercifully bucking the trend of a cartoonish or anthropomorphic mascots for most of the decade, St. John's plans to bring back a mascot (H/T to Deadspin).

Clearly, that was what has been behind the declining attendance and malaise that covers St. John's basketball. No mascot to wander in the stands, scare children and pose for photos. The St. John's athletic department will even let you vote for the mascot -- including an updated version of Thunder. The choices are after the jump.

With John Calipari now coaching at Kentucky, top shooting guard Xavier Henry reopened his recruiting. C.J. was already on the Memphis squad following a failed professional baseball career, but that meant little. Ultimately Xavier Henry has opted to go to Kansas, and his older brother will be joining him.

The addition of Henry to a recruiting class that includes power forward Thomas Robinson and point guard Elijah Johnson -- both top-50 recruits -- means that a likely top-10 recruiting class will join a Kansas team that finished in the top-10 and will be returning everyone. Kansas now joins North Carolina and Michigan State as the presumed favorites for 2010.

Chalk ruled the day. The teams having a bye all advanced. Sandwiched between some reasonably competitive games were a couple games that never had the outcome in doubt.

DePaul spent most of the game looking like they were going to take care of any bubble talk in the Big East by putting Providence out of the Big East Tournament (BET). Ultimately, Providence managed to play some defense while DePaul maintained their stance on no defense if at all possible.

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The biggest loser of the first game of the Big East Tournament (BET) was not Cincy. It was Providence. The Friars are a fringe bubble team. They need more than simply a deep run in the BET, they need quality wins to boost their computer numbers. Providence now gets DePaul and their 200+ RPI number tomorrow. Even if they win, they get little to show for it. On top of that, Providence swept Cincinnati. That Cincinnati loss to DePaul further drives down the value of those wins.

The only other winners are sportswriters who like DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright. Wainwright is popular because he's a good quote and media friendly. Now they can claim he is making progress and should get another year.

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