All Time best transfer into SJU

BrookJersey Redmen

BrookJersey Redmen

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Bored.

This is a tough one and many on here are much better at SJU history than me and I hope I am right about my choice and the facts.

Ed Searcy in from Duquesne.

I saw Ed play at Power winning the CHSAA championship (I believe) at the Fordham Rose Hill gym. Great rebounder, defender and not a bad shooter for an "inside" guy, back then at 6'6" you were expected to be a front court man.
 
Two guys that stick out for me are Bootsy Thornton and Marcus Hatten Both JC guys but big time impact players
 
[quote="ctstorm" post=384576]Walter Berry[/quote]

We've had a lot of great transfers through the years at St John's. Two others that immediately comes to mind are Reggie Carter and "The Whopper", Billy Paultz.

But the all time best has to be Walter Berry. He was the guy who was the final piece to help us make the Final Four in 1985. "The Truth" was also the National Player of the Year in 1986.

In terms of productivity, it has to be Berry, hands down!!!
 
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[quote="redmanwest" post=384580]#1 Walter Berry
#2 Reggie Carter
#3 Bootsy
#4 Hatten[/quote]

I think Hatten was better than bootsy overall but hard to argue either way. Sooo many others. Hardy, Harvey, Etc. Many of our best players have be jucos so we shouldn’t be averse to adding good ones regularly.
 
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Walter Berry came from Junior college, is that really considered a transfer per se? I will to go with Reggie Carter (Hawaii) and Bernard Rencher (Notre Dame) as a tandem. Great backcourt.
 
[quote="jerseyshorejohnny" post=384588][URL]https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/kevin-loughery-1.html[/URL]

Kevin Loughery was a good transfer from BC a long, long time ago.

I think his BC #'s are from a time when freshman could not play varsity and only played fellow first year players.[/quote]

Loughery of course was a very long time ago. During his playing days, announcers like Marv Alpert who did all those great Bullets-Knicks games never really identified Loughery as a St John's local product. I didn't even realize till after his playing days were over that he went to SJU. I don't believe he has had any real contact with the university since he left, is that correct?

I never think of Berry as a transfer, since he was a juco player who was going to go somewhere. I think of transfers to SJU in a historical sense - guys who left NYC for greener pastures, and returned home. We knew their stories, their high schools, and they were "our guys".

Carter is at the top of the list in that regard, via Hawaii and Long Island Lutheran. Rencher gets an honorable mention via Notre Dame.

Biggest and most heralded transfer that didn't work out was Curtis Redding. His return created quite a buzz, and he had a knack for being a lightning rod for attention, good and bad.

Carter being reunited with HS teammate Wayne McKoy was incredibly big news. It was the equivalent of Lopez and Hamilton choosing SJU, and we definitely had visions of a national championship. We were a top 10 team at one point with them.

Those were of course the days before we recruited nationally. Our big foray and signing was Chucky Sproling from Denver I believe. We were so excited when that announcement was made, since it signaled the hopes of an era where we would recruit with "more than a roll of subway tokens" as Looie used to say. We reasoned that if we could be a Final Four team recruiting locally, we would now be a perennial contender for the national championship by recruiting everywhere. Of course, we all know how that turned out.
 
[quote="Mean Gene" post=384584]Walter Berry came from Junior college, is that really considered a transfer per se? I will to go with Reggie Carter (Hawaii) and Bernard Rencher (Notre Dame) as a tandem. Great backcourt.[/quote]

I went with Berry because I "transferred" to SJU from Bronx Community College. So it is one of the things we have in common. :) But agree that Carter would be first alternate.
 
Best four-year transfers:
1. Carter
2. Rencher
3. Justin Simon
4. Rowan

Best JUCO Transfers
1. Berry
2. Billy Paultz
3. Boo
4. Hatten
 
[quote="ctstorm" post=384595][quote="Mean Gene" post=384584]Walter Berry came from Junior college, is that really considered a transfer per se? I will to go with Reggie Carter (Hawaii) and Bernard Rencher (Notre Dame) as a tandem. Great backcourt.[/quote]

I went with Berry because I "transferred" to SJU from Bronx Community College. So it is one of the things we have in common. :) But agree that Carter would be first alternate.[/quote]

San Jacinto?
 
[quote="MainMan" post=384605]Best four-year transfers:
1. Carter
2. Rencher
3. Justin Simon
4. Rowan

Best JUCO Transfers
1. Berry
2. Billy Paultz
3. Boo
4. Hatten[/quote]

I would definitely separate JUCO from traditional 4 yr transfers.
 
Surprised at the lack of mention of Lamont Middleton, as a great college transfer.

Was a 20+ PPG guy at Hartford, but found his niche here as one of the many banging power forwards this program has had (guys like Billy Singleton, Tyrone Grant, Anthony Glover etc., although Middleton had a few more athletic gifts then those guys).
 
I am only rating guys that I saw play at St John's (I saw Paultz in the pros).

Juco
1. Walter Berry
2. Bootsie Thornton
3. Billy Goodwin (Billy was a beast for BE Championship & sweet 16 team, defended, scored and rebounded)
4. Marcus Hatten
5. Boo Harvey

Non-Juco
1. Reggie Carter
2. Bernard Rencher
3. Matt Burst
4. Ron Rowan
5. Justin Simon

Combined
1. Walter Berry
2. Reggie Carter
3. Bootsie Thornton
4. Billy Goodwin
5. Marcus Hatten
 
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