St. John's basketball in review: 2008-09 Tomas Jasiulionis

#11 - Tomas Jasiulionis

2008-2009 Class: Senior
Position: Center
Height: 6'11 "
Weight: 260
Age/ DOB: 23/ January 11, 1986
Home: Utena, Lithuania/ Richmond, VA

stats taken from Statsheet, kenpom.com, and my own calculations

2008-2009 Highs

Unlike Ricky Torres and Anthony Mason Jr. from his recruiting class, Tomas Jasiulionis made it to graduation on time, contributing spot minutes for the St. John's Red Storm. With a roster that has featured a lot of turnover from players who won't get the time they expect, or perhaps some kind of personality conflict or some other issue, one almost wonders why Tomas stayed with the squad?

I say that will the full belief that consistency is laudable, and important. And if I were a baller, I wouldn't want to transfer - I have seen people around me transfer schools (years ago, of course) and to a man, they all should have stuck with the school that they pledged to.

Not to say transfers don't work; Jack McClinton made a name for himself transferring to Miami; Cedric Jackson made a name transferring from St. John's to Cleveland State and getting into the NCAA Tournament.

Tomas stayed. And Jasiulionis was the most enthusiastic towel-waver. He seemed genuinely excited to get into the game throw his body around, and give some effort.

He got some run in games against Howard University, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, DePaul, and both Georgetown games... but on this slightly faster roster, he didn't seem to have a strong role (which we will also touch on when reviewing Dele Coker). The movement of the offense and defense took him away from the basket, where his lack of foot speed made him ineffective, though his hustle was welcome.

Thanks for 4 years of effort, enthusiasm, and emergency height, Tomas, and best of luck in finance or in low-level basketball. His height and toughness may help him stick somewhere in Europe, especially since, as far as I know, he's still a Lithuanian citizen (European teams have limits on the number of Americans they can have on their roster).