St. John’s Hires Hines; Hall in Paradise Jam

St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin has officially put former Golden State Warriors assistant Rico Hines on staff.

Hines becomes the second person to join Lavin’s staff, following former Drexel assistant Tony Chiles.

“Rico is a talented, natural-born teacher and coach with a relentless work ethic. He is one of the true rising stars in the coaching profession,” said Lavin. “His talents in on-court player skill development and his reach as a north-to-south, coast-to-coast recruiter are among the definite benefits he brings to our staff at St. John’s.”

In his role with Golden State from 2006-10, Hines, 32, worked with several Warriors, including Baron Davis, Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow and Monta Ellis.

“Rico Hines will be a great addition to the St. John’s program. He’s done an outstanding job developing our younger players and has matured into a great assistant coach,” said Warriors Coach Don Nelson, who became the NBA’s winningest all-time head coach on April 7 and now owns 1,335 career victories.

Lavin could still add Mike Dunlap to the staff. Dunlap was in the mix for the Colorado job, but the university hired former Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle on Monday.

COLUMBIA SEARCH COULD TAKE 2-3 WEEKS (UPDATED)

Ted Gregory, who is running the Columbia coaching search for DHR International, said the process could take “2 to 3 weeks.”

“The difficulty with timetables is that scheduling is such a big part of this mix.  Our hope is that this should take no longer than 2 to 3 weeks but we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to make a sound choice,” Gregory wrote in an email.

Former Columbia coach Joe Jones left to join Steve Donahue’s staff at Boston College.

St. Mary’s associate head coach Kyle Smith, former New Orleans coach Joe Pasternack and NJIT coach Jim Engles are in the mix at Columbia. Pasternack interviewed over the weekend and Smith interviews Tuesday, a source with knowledge said.

SETON HALL IN PARADISE JAM

The U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam tournament released the 2010 men’s basketball tournament field and bracket.

The eight NCAA teams participating in the 11th annual event include Xavier, Alabama, Seton Hall, Clemson, Old Dominion, Iowa, Long Beach State and Saint Peter’s.

Seton Hall’s first round opponent will be Alabama on Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. EST.  Should the Pirates defeat the Crimson Tide, they will take on the winner of the Iowa- Xavier game on Nov. 21 at 10:30 p.m.  Seton Hall will play a third game on Nov. 22 with the opponent and time to be determined.

ARMAND TO IONA

Sean Armand has verbally committed to Iona.

“Yea I’m going to iona,” Armand wrote on his Twitter.

A 6-foot-2, 180-pound guard from CJEOTO in New Jersey, Armand initially committed to Fordham interim head coach Jared Grasso, now an assistant to Tim Cluess at Iona.

“I’m going to iona wit[h] grasso,” Armand wrote on Twitter.

Josh Hoffman, Armand’s AAU coach with the New Jersey Trail Blazers, said in January that Armand is a true scorer.

“He can flat out score the ball,” Hoffman said then. “He’s got NBA range on the jumper, can go to the hoop. He’s quick. He’s a high-character young man who will work his tail off and play defense and score. He’s under the radar, played at a no-name New York high school [Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School].

“If he played for the New York Gauchos or the New Jersey Playaz, everyone in the nation would know who he was.”

Armand said in January that he remained “loyal” to Grasso.

“He was loyal to me,” Armand said. “I’m loyal to him.”

(Photo courtesy UCLA Athletics)

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