**Click the Video Player at right for the Steve Lavin and Kevin Willard press conferences from Wednesday**

NEW YORK — Steve Lavin was introduced as the 19th head coach in St. John’s history at a press conference on Wednesday that included about 300 people, including former St. John’s star Walter Berry and various clergy, boosters, St. John’s employees and members of the New York media.

Flanked by athletic director Chris Monasch, school president Father Donald J. Harrington and former St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca, Lavin said St. John’s was one of “two or three schools in the country” for which he would have left his broadcasting career at ESPN.

“What St. John’s represents, it’s unique,” Lavin said. “St. John’s has distinction.”

Read the full story SNY.tv.

**Jerry Carino has the complete rundown from the big double-press conference in South Orange introducing new Seton Hall coaches Kevin Willard and Anne Donovan.

Quote of the Day from either presser goes to  Willard on Herb Pope, Jeremy Hazell and Jeff Robinson declaring for the NBA Draft.

“This is the first team that hasn’t won a national championship that has three guys going into the pros off a team,” Willard said. “But I’m a big believer in kids reaching their dreams. So if those three guys can get drafted in the first round, we’re going to do everything as a staff, as a university, to make sure that can happen. If that can’t happen, of course we’re going to bring them back.”

**Willard also got his first recruit today when 6-8 Anali Okoloji committed. Gotham Hoops broke the story.

**Elsewhere in the Big East, Pitt extended Jamie Dixon through the 2017-18 season. Dixon already had a contract through the 2015-16 season at a salary of $1.6 million.

**At Kentucky, freshman big man Daniel Orton will test the NBA Waters. Jerry Tipton says a recent mock draft by the L.A. Times projected five Wildcats in the top 13 picks.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

NEW YORK – When Dexter Strickland committed to North Carolina as a junior at Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams figured Strickland would play point guard during his senior season of high school.

But when stud point guard Kyrie Irving transferred to St. Patrick from Montclair (N.J.) Kimberley Academy, Strickland continued to play shooting guard as the Celtics won the 2009 New Jersey Tournament of Champions.

Now a freshman at North Carolina, the 6-foot-3 Strickland continues to adjust to life as a floor general for the 2009 NCAA champions.

“It’s been a huge transition for him, but I think each and every week he gets better,” Williams said this week. “I think he understands things better.”

Read the full story at SNY.tv.

**And read my piece on the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational, which tips Thursday in Baltimore without six of the top teams in the nation.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter

Junior shooting guard Jeremy Hazell has become the third Seton Hall player to enter his name into the NBA Draft, although he has yet to hire an agent.

The 6-foot-5 Hazell can return to campus for his senior season if he pulls out by May 8 and doesn’t hire an agent.

Hazell averaged 20.4 points last season and was a second-team All-Big East selection.

“He definitely has NBA range,” Chris Monter of Monter Draft News and College Basketball News told SNY.tv in 2008. “Obviously, his main strength is his outside shooting ability. He’s going to have to improve on taking the ball to the hoop, and become a better passer and more of a ball handler.”

The news was first reported by MSG.com on its Website. (more…)

Hofstra has moved quickly to hire former Providence coach Tim Welsh as its new coach.

The former Providence and Iona coach replaces Tom Pecora, who last week took the Fordham job.

Welsh, a former SNY analyst, will get a five year deal and will be introduced Thursday at a press conference.

“We have hired Tim Welsh as our new coach,” a Hofstra source said.

Welsh spent 10 years at Providence but was fired after the Friars went 15-16 in 2007-08, with starting point guard Sharaud Curry limited to one game because of injury. (more…)

**Click the Video Player at right for SNY’s interview with Steve Lavin**

The Steve Lavin Era at St. John’s has officially begun.

The former UCLA coach took over at the Queens school on Tuesday and reportedly agreed to a six-year deal worth between $9-9.5 million.

The school will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

As of about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lavin told 1050 ESPN he had received 286 text messages from people congratulating him and inquiring about staff possibilities.

Read the full story at SNY.tv.

**In other Big East coaching news, Rick Pitino got a four-year extension at Louisville, so forget about him going to the Nets.

RELATED CONTENT

**Lavin, St. John’s close to deal

**Lavin, St. John’s have ‘interest’

**McCaffery next up for St. John’s

**Greenberg out, Skinner next at St. John’s?

**Donahue could be next at St. John’s

**Hewitt spurns St. John’s to remain at Georgia Tech

**Hewitt meets with St. John’s, no offer made

**Florida says “zero truth” to Donovan story

**Next St. John’s coach faces critical recruiting period

**Norm Roberts fired after six seasons

**Click the Video Player on right for SNY’s exclusive interview with new Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard**

In his first interview since agreeing to a five-year deal to become head coach at Seton Hall, Kevin Willard talked to SNY about the team, Herb Pope’s future plans and the style of basketball he plans to play.

By succeeding the fired Bobby Gonzalez, Willard becomes the youngest coach in the Big East Conference. He turns 35 April 6, the day after the national championship game.

“Well, it’s a great honor,” he told SNY. “If you just think about all the coaches who are in the Big East, from Rick Pitino, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun top to bottom, the legendary coaches. So to be part of that group is not only a privilege but it’s a great honor. (more…)

In this interview with BoxofMess.com from the McDonald’s All-American Game, Josh Selby says he’s considering five schools, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, UConn and Tennessee.

“Right now, no one’s leading,” he said.

The 6-foot-3 Selby, out of Baltimore (Md.) Lake Clifton, will announce at the Jordan Brand Classic April 17.

“Yes, that’s correct. April 17. I will make a commitment at halftime,” he said.

Selby also said he wasn’t waiting for Brandon Knight to make his decision. Knight, out of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Pine Crest, is considering Kentucky, Kansas, Florida, UConn and Syracuse, but most observers expect him to pick Kentucky. (more…)

Steve Lavin appears on the brink of becoming the next head coach at St. John’s.

“Everything is looking positive,” a source with knowledge said. “There was a very productive and positive dialogue.”

Lavin, the former UCLA coach who now works as an ESPN analyst, and St. John’s AD Chris Monasch met Monday and will meet again Tuesday.

In related news, the Boston Globe reported that Boston College fired Al Skinner last Wednesday, prior to his Friday interview with Monasch.

The Globe reported that BC has requested permission to speak with Richmond coach Chris Mooney and Cornell coach Steve Donahue to replace Skinner. (more…)

New Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard could be without the Big East’s leading rebounder when he begins his first season next fall.

Herb Pope, a sophomore who led the Big East in rebounding at 10.7 and scored 11.7 points per game, announced that he will enter his name into the June NBA Draft.

“After careful consideration of my options, and considering the needs of my family in Pittsburgh and a desire to compete at the next level, I have decided to enter the 2010 NBA draft,” Pope wrote in a statement to family adviser Tony Pullen that was obtained by ESPN.com. “While I will continue to attend class at Seton Hall, allowing me the option of ‘testing the waters,’ I am 110 percent committed at this time to staying in this draft.

“I have room to improve, but I am confident that I will perform well in on-site workouts.”

If Pope does not hire an agent, he can return to campus next season but he must decide by May 8. (more…)

NEW YORK — The North Carolina Tar Heels are the defending national champions until the night of April 5.

And when that Monday night comes around, the Heels hope somebody besides the Duke Blue Devils are raising the championship trophy.

“Ahhh, I want to see them lose because their Duke. I’d rather have West Virginia win,” freshman point guard Dexter Strickland of Rahway, N.J. told me Monday afternoon in Manhattan.

While Duke advanced to the NCAA Final Four to play West Virginia Saturday in Indianapolis, Carolina will play Rhode Island Tuesday night in the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden. Dayton meets Mississippi in the other NIT semi. (more…)