D’ANGELO HARRISON THE JUNIOR LEADER MAKES A COMEBACK AFTER SUSPENSION JON PEREZ EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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ith eight s e c o n d s remaining on the clock, Providence’s Bryce Cotton was at the line with a chance to give his team a four point lead and seal the deal for the Friars’ eighth conference win. A win would push them just a little closer to an at large bid in the 2013 NCAA tournament. Cotton went to the line with his team already up 61-59 against a St. John’s team that was one game above the Friars in the standings. Cotton’s first free throw was nothing but net. Friars by three. The clock struck 9:57 p.m., but it might as well have struck midnight with a loss, St. John’s would not only have to beat No. 24 Notre Dame in South Bend, the Red Storm would also have to knock off No. 15 Marquette which, with a win, would take at least a share of Big East regular season crown. The crowd quieted for Cotton. The junior knew what was at stake if he sunk this shot. Cotton rared back and fired – brick. Sir’Dominic Pointer collected the rebound and the sand in the timer began to dissipate. With no timeouts left, St. John’s had to push. The ball found its way into the hands of seven-time Big East rookie of the week JaKarr Sampson. Sampson, with three ticks left on the clock, unleashed a three that would tie the game. As the ball sailed slowly toward the net, time stopped. This game was going into overtime, this shot was too good not to find the bottom of the net. Clank. That was it - the season’s pulse was fading and aspirations for an NCAA tournament bid were on life support. St. John’s needed to win out the rest of its schedule and go deep into the Big East tournament.
Let’s jump back 48 hours to where the first rumblings of the landslide began. In what seemed like just any other day for D’Angelo Harrison, he was summoned to head coach Steve Lavin’s office where he was told to hang up his kicks – his season was done. The next day it was announced that D’Angelo
Harrison was suspended for the rest of the season. What was the rub? Why now? There was a lot of confusion as to why the suspension was handed down. Up until Harrison’s departure from the team, the Johnnies were trying to right the ship and make the tournament for the second time in three
seasons, the first time with this core group of players. “I thought he was going to talk about something a coach and a player talk about,” Harrison said. “Obviously I was upset, confused. But he did it, and now looking at it in an older and mature way he helped me so I’m a better person than I was last year, so I credit him for that.” After Lavin was done talking to his star player, he had the unpleasant duty to address his team that already had a lot on their plate. Now they could add shock to the list. “I was surprised because of how late it was in the season,” Phil Greene said. “Coach just wanted to make a statement.” Transfer guard Jamal Branch felt a personal loss to the suspension. “It kind of hurt me bit because one of the main reasons why I came to this school was because of D’Angelo,” Branch said. “We had a history together back in Texas. When I was looking at school’s to transfer to, he played a big factor in my decision to come here and just to have him out last year it kind of hurt me a lot because we have such a great relationship. Just to have him not there was kind of hurtful.” Although Harrison and his teammates were shocked and confused as to why he was suspended at that particular time, Harrison had no intentions of going anywhere else to finish his college career. “After I got suspended there was a big question mark whether or not I’d come back,” Harrison paused. “I don’t think anybody knows this but as soon as Lav suspended me I told him I was coming back.” What happened to Harrison next would be life changing. He attended John Lucas’ wellness program in Houston. The
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