It’s March 1994 and the biggest thing going in NYC at the time was Felipe Lopez. The Rice star has been talked about forever as the city’s best player. No small honor in this town where basketball reigns supreme. Well, by the look of how dreadful things are now with the Knicks, Nets and St. John’s, it’s not even close to what it once was.

The enthusiastic kid from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic made huge news when he decided to stay home and play at St. John’s setting off a tremendous celebration here. It’s ashame the overexposure became too much for Lopez, who dominated one of the toughest leagues bar none. He still went onto a solid four-year career with the Redmen but never untapped the potential so many predicted for him.

Consistency just wasn’t there, especially from the perimeter. He could get to the basket like few others. Truthfully, the pressure was too much as Lopez was expected to be the savior at St. John’s bringing them back to the glory days of Xaverian product Chris Mullin, Walter Berry and Mark Jackson from legendary former coach Lou Carnesecca’s only Final Four team in 1985 when they lost to Patrick Ewing and John Thompson’s Hoyas back when that was the best rivalry in college hoops going.

On this same night, Georgetown is fresh off a Final Four appearance and humiliating Norm Roberts’ team at Madison Square Garden where at last check it was the Hoyas leading 62-26. Yes. That was the actual score. A far cry from what one of the biggest games in the Big East used to be. Just goes to the huge difference between the two programs.

Maybe St. John’s had it good when a big star from current coach Maurice Hicks’ Rice program chose to play for their school. We just never realized it at the time how rare that would actually become.

I’ll tell you what I remember about that great championship game between archrivals Rice and St. Raymond’s, who were led by an electrifying guard by the name of Kareem Reid. He later starred at the University of Arkansas. The atmosphere at Fordham was unbelievable. You had kids hawking Rice t-shirts outside the gym for 10 a pop. To this day, I still have it. It had the entire roster including Lopez along with former Seton Hall star Gary Saunders.

They also had Rice team posters which included a much slimmer Shaq standing next to Lopez in the photo. A collector’s item now. That’s how superhyped he was. The Next Great One.

Ah. If only it had had that classic ending fit for a Hollywood script. Few players we follow from the very beginning turn out that way. That’s why you got to appreciate the Michael Jordan’s, Kobe’s and LeBron’s. Cause they’re few and far between.

If you love packed gyms with chaotic atmosphere, then this CHSAA championship between Rice and St. Raymond’s was your cup of tea. How unique is this neighborhood rivalry in Upper Manhattan? They’re only going to be playing in front of another packed Fordham gym on Friday afternoon. Tickets are five bucks. Well worth the admission.

If only I didn’t have a couple of games to score at Berkeley Carroll in Park Slope. Who am I kidding? I love those games. The kids treat you with respect as do the coaches and athletic director. It’s fun to be associated with such a well run organization. They make it so easy to pull for them. Let’s also be honest. Park Slope isn’t Staten Island and that even includes some of the better parts out here. Anytime I can go to a nice area such as that, Brooklyn Heights or the Upper West Side, I’m there.

Anyway, I haven’t really talked about how good a championship game this was. Back and forth at a frenetic pace on a great court with oooohh’s and ahhhh’s when Reid went to his killer crossover and sliced and diced the Rice D. Oh. This kid was special. He’s a legend. He had one of the best handles. Period.

Reid wasn’t big but rather one of those slick undersized classic New York point guards who could breakdown defenses by using his superior ballhandling skills to get into the lane and find open teammates. He also could knock it down from the outside if you backed off him. He was trying to help St. Ray’s repeat as league champions. In 1993, they won both the city and state titles.

I’ll tell ya what else was cool. Rice had a kid named Scientific Mapp. Yes. That’s what his name was. He was a slick PG who helped run Rice’s offense around Lopez and Saunders. Both had solid all around games in helping their school edge St. Raymond’s in a barn burner. If I remember correctly, they won by one point with Reid’s 75-foot prayer going off the rim as the buzzer sounded. Lopez was lifted up by teammates afterwards during a triumphant celebration for gaining a measure of revenge against the same Reid-led team which edged them 71-69 the month before.

It was Saunders who paced Rice in the game. He was their most poised player. Maybe that should’ve sounded the alarms about whether Lopez would project.

Tell ya something else. Mapp’s younger brother who went on to star for St. Raymond’s was named Majestic. What’s in a name anyway? He became a McDonald’s All-American and went to Virginia where he played for a year. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL during a pickup game which derailed his career. His amazing rehab and story of a comeback at the University of West Georgia (Div. II) is worth the read. It exemplifies how dedicated he was. Here’s one excerpt:

“Basically, I had one surgery, and from there it went downhill,” he said. “I rehabbed and it never got better. I don’t know what the cause was, but it was just bad. I don’t know. I don’t like to point fingers. I just say that God made me have five surgeries.“

I saw Majestic play and he was better than his brother and could’ve been a really good player at Virginia. Who knows how far his game would’ve taken him? It just goes to show how quick it can all fall apart. When it comes to injuries, you have to be really lucky.

Maybe that’s in God’s hands.

 

Coming next: Part IV