Robbins - Dunlap is the anti-Lavin
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St. John's to play Louisville tonight
By LENN ROBBINS
Last Updated: 8:46 AM, January 3, 2012
Posted: 3:15 AM, January 3, 2012
Mike Dunlap is the anti-Steve Lavin.
The St. John's assistant coach does not have a glistening white smile, doesn’t rattle off wonderfully entertaining TV sound bites. On first glance, he might look more a cross-country coach than a basketball coach.
But Dunlap is known in basketball circles as one of those savants who has forgotten more about basketball than some coaches ever learned.
His role, as Lavin’s lead assistant, seemed a perfect fit. While Lavin played the role of the face of the St. John’s program with ease, Dunlap could often be found at the end of the bench, a yellow legal pad in hand, looking like a principal observing a class.
Dunlap has had to ditch the pad, and the seat at the end of the bench, for the first chair, the head-coach’s chair, Lavin’s chair, as Lavin continues to recover from prostate cancer surgery.
Dunlap has been a head coach. He led Metro State to two Division II national titles. He’s been a college assistant, an NBA assistant, even went down under to coach Adelaide 36ers in Australia.
Tonight, he again will be the Red Storm’s head coach when No. 11 Louisville (12-2, 0-1 Big East) comes to the Garden . The Red Storm are 7-6 and 1-1.
“It’s nice to sharpen the knife again and to be that guy from a strategic standpoint,’’ said Dunlap. “But, I will also be quick to say that we continue to miss Lav’s presence. At some point in time, you just are more comfortable because you’ve made a lot more decisions when you add the games up.
“It’s an unusual chair — in that the buck stops with you — and you’ve got to counter what the opponent is doing, you’ve got to counter surges, you’ve got to try and play hot hands,’’ he added.
“There are a lot of decisions you have to make that are snap. Each game it gets more comfortable for me.”
Read more:http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/coll...hot_seat_sBt4RJGsAfBNonV6I6nMXP#ixzz1iP2WRH8U