Last week in the Rumble, 10-15

Basketball is back!

Let's amend that to semi-back; college basketball teams are back at the grind of daily team practices and skill development. The games haven't started - we have to wait until the second week of November for that. But we still spent last week analyzing the returning players, and we spent this weekend talking about the impending season, the reaction to the Coach's return, and the excitement of "game" action.

The offseason is long, and it's nice to see players and basketballs, even in a non-competitive setting. If you missed any of the Rumble's coverage, here is the week that was:

Preview posts

All the Red Storm in Review posts can be seen in one area (also in that red box on the Rumble in the Garden homepage). Here's what we covered last week:

In review: D`Angelo Harrison, Swagression. A look at the delicate balance between D`Angelo Harrison's shooting aggressiveness and his new role as leader of the Red Storm.

Backcourt preview: depth and shooting. Of the incoming backcourt players, one shooter and one playmaker are likely to get major playing time - and charge the team's offense.

Frontcourt preview: Bigger and better. Steve Lavin fulfilled his recruiting priority to bring impact size to St. John's. Will the beef in the middle be enough to move the Johnnies up the standings this year? What do the new players mean for God`sGift Achiuwa's playing time? Which of the newcomers seem poised to make the largest impact in the paint?

Red Storm Tip-Off

A packed house came out to see the new youthful Johnnies and the returned coach.

Before the event, we had info on WSJU's coverage and on the performing artist Chiddy Bang.

After the event, the whole Rumble team had coverage:

The return of basketball - and Steve Lavin - in pictures. The full roster, the introductions, the dunk contest, the scrimmage, and even the layup line were picture worthy. Take a look at the Rumble's 24-photo gallery, taken by Tim.

No stoppin' - Steve Lavin returns, looks to lead the Red Storm back to NCAA Tournament. Steve Lavin's return comes with Lavin Lines, comments about his changed perspective, and his desire to shape his team into a winner. Written by Jaden.

For D'Angelo Harrison, evolution means (some) modesty. The always-gregarious D`Angelo Harrison has scaled back his bravado, but still predicts a run to the NCAA Tournament. Captured by Quinn.

Five takeaways from Red Storm Tip-Off. An early recap of Steve Lavin's return to the sidelinesand the five best moments of Red Storm Tip-Off, including this dunk.

Yahoo! Sports loves the dunk as well - it tops their list of Midnight Madness highlights.

Recruiting impact from Tip-Off

It's much too early to say that the pomp and pageantry swayed any recruits to don the red and white. But 2015 center Jessie Govan noted JaKarr Sampson's bounciness, said he had a good time; and 2013 guard Jon Severe decided to go to St. John's instead of Rutgers, per NYC Hoops. Bryce Aiken and Jermaine Lawrence (who showed up in a sling, a summer arm injury) also thought it was live.

Who else came? Everyone on our sourced Red Storm Tip-Off recruit guest list, it seems, except for Isaiah Whitehead (2014 guard), who stayed home.

Rysheed Jordan went to visit Syracuse's Midnight Madness (if you didn't hear, there was a stabbing incident between non-students), and forward Chris McCullough stayed at Brewster because he had Saturday classes.

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