St. John's basketball alumni: Daryll "Showtime" Hill Updates

by picodulce on Aug 12, 2008 1:28 PM EDT in St. John's Red Storm men's basketball

Because summer is when all the Back In The Day ballers come through their hometowns, the NY Post has a catch-up piece on Daryl Hill, playing professionally in Europe and balling in New York's Nike Pro Daryl Hill at St. John's City League, where his Queensbridge team won the championship:

Hill, the former St. John's standout who goes by the name "Showtime" and rebounded from a serious left knee injury two years ago, had 20 points, six assists and three steals to lead PDG Queensbridge to a 118-106 victory over No. 1 seed Primetime. It was PDG's sixth straight victory after an 0-3 start.

"It was real special for us. I felt it was especially for me, knowing that I had an injury and people thinking I was still hurt," Hill said. "I showed people I'm still healthy and that I can still get it done on the court...."

Hill, 26, began playing for the Red Storm in 2003 and peaked as the third-leading scorer in the Big East with 20.7 points per game in his sophomore season. The following year, Hill's meteoric rise was halted by his knee injury, which limited him to 32 games in his final two seasons.

"Junior year was hard. It was wearing down from playing streetball and playing on concrete," Hill said. "I decided to get surgery. I was so anxious to come back and play and everything fell apart. I just had to take time and let it heal. I got a lot of treatment and went to a lot of rehab sessions, and it's definitely 100 percent now."

Back to full speed, or rather lightning-speed, Hill has regained his ability to penetrate defenses. After time away from the stage, Hill is reminding people how he earned his nickname.

"I've had it since junior high school. At lunchtime, I was playing one-on-one at recess," Hill said. "I was going through the legs and throwing it off the backboard, and people were like, 'It's Showtime at the Apollo. Let's go watch the show.' "

A couple of highlight videos found on YouTube. The first features an absolutely clownish ankle-busting killer crossover of Providence's Dwight Brewington: