http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/moe_toughness_Y0JkwvF14DnnacWF1zxd8L
St. John's freshman Harkless looks to be more physical
By LENN ROBBINS
Last Updated: 8:14 AM, October 15, 2011
Posted: 1:29 AM, October 15, 2011
When St. John's freshman Maurice 'Moe' Harkless walked into the Taffner Center Thursday afternoon for his first one-on-one interview as a college basketball player he was greeted by Red Storm assistant coach Mike Dunlap.
"I told him you were a beast!" said Dunlap, banging his knuckles on Harkless's chest. "I told him you were a man of steel!"
Harkless was speechless. Had Dunlap gone mad?
Isn't Dunlap the coach who's been torturing Harkless in almost every 5 a.m. practice to play harder, tougher, more physical?
"He says stuff that I shouldn't say," Harkless, sounding a little embarrassed, said of the verbal challenges he gets from Dunlap and the other St. John's assistant coaches. "He tells me a lot of teams are going to be out to get me. He just tells me I have to be real tough out there."
A lot of teams will be out to get Harkless because he is the highest-rated player in Steve Lavin's first full recruiting class enrolled at St. John's.
He also is the highest-rated prep player St. John's has signed from the city since Ron Artest.
Harkless, a 6-foot-8, 190-pound forward from Queens, is a beautifully artistic, versatile player who flows like the tail of a kite.
St. John's fans got their first chance to see Harkless and the rest of the recruits at last night's 2011 Red Storm Tip-Off, when he took the court to Jay Z's "Public Service Announcement."
The first time Lavin, who did not attend last night as he recovers from prostate cancer surgery, saw Harkless play it took his breath away.
"Maurice Harkless, at this stage of his career, is the most well-rounded player I've ever recruited," Lavin said after Harkless chose the Red Storm over Cincinnati, Florida, Maryland, Oregon and Rutgers.
He also is a remarkably mature and humble 18-year-old. Harkless said, without a trace of arrogance, that he would prefer to not to do interviews.
"I'm not fond of it," he said.
He is a rarity -- an old-schooler. When asked if he had any nicknames he said, 'Moe.' When he was presented with the nickname, 'The Harkless Monster,' he laughed for the only time during the interview.
'No, not for me," said Harkless, who doesn't have any tattoos.
"Some tattoos are just pointless," he said. "You look back on them when you're old and you're like, 'Why did I get this?"'
Get this: when Moe doesn't have practice or class his idea of partying is going home to hang with his mother, Rosa, sister, Shakima, and her three children, Mekhi, 6, twins, Madison and Phoenix, six months, and his younger brother Tyler, 7.
"Mekhi calls himself 'Lil Moe,' and Tyler calls himself, 'Medium Moe,"' said Shakima.
Harkless said he knows it's time to toughen up. When he wakes up he always reaches for the basketball that lies on the floor next to his bed. He brushes his teeth while holding that ball.
Before he heads to Taffner for practice he dunks a mini-ball in a mini-rim that hangs on the back of his door. At practice, Dunlap will push and prod his gifted freshman.
"Moe is just a big kid at heart," Shakira said. "But there's a lot to him he doesn't let out. I wouldn't say he's not tough. I'd say he never ceases to surprise me. If he's pushed, you would be surprised at how strong he is."
St. John's has begun to push. There's nothing the staff would like better than to see Big Moe push back.
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