Georgetown's Otto Porter has been named the 2013 Big East Player of the Year. Porter is the first player from the Hoyas to win the Big East's top honor since Jeff Green in 2007.

Joining Porter on the All-Big East First Team are Notre Dame's Jack Cooley, Bryce Cotton of Providence, Louisville's Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith, and UConn's Shabazz Napier.

Dieng was also named Defensive Player of the Year, while St. John's Jakarr Sampson was named Rookie of the Year.

Jermaine Lawrence has trimmed his list of schools to UNLV, St. John's, Syracuse and Cincinnati.

Lawrence, one of the top-20 prospects in the class of 2013, eliminated Kansas and UCLA from consideration.

Lawrence has yet to take an official visit

Steve Lavin is clear of cancer and ready to return to St. John's.

Lavin missed most of the 11-12 season while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. 

"I can tell that I'm closer to being back to a level of health that I was at prior to the treatment," Lavin said. "Naturally, I still have to be vigilant on the health front -- as we all do when we get older, or coming off something like a battle with cancer. But I clearly feel in a better place in terms of my stamina, my strength, my conditioning."

St. John's welcomed Rysheed Jordan, a 6-foot-3 point guard out of Vaux Roberts (Penn.) High School, on Friday afternoon.

The 6-foot-3 Jordan is a consensus top-70 player in the 2013 class.

Jordan has an offer from the Red Storm, along with Villanova, Maryland, Georgetown, Kansas and Rutgers.

Darrick Martin is joining the coaching staff of St. John's.

Martin was named assistant director of player development by the Minnesota Timberwolves in November of 2009 and served under Kurt Rambis for two seasons.

Steve Lavin has spent considerable time searching for a replacement for Mike Dunlap, who was hired by the Charlotte Bobcats.

Lavin considered hiring Frank Allocco, a longtime high school coach from California.

Martin is the third person with ties to UCLA on the St. John's coaching staff.

Connecticut received a verbal commitment from Kentan Facey, a highly-touted 6-foot-9 forward out of New York Long Island Lutheran.

Facey, a native of Jamaica, chose the Huskies over USC, UCLA, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Memphis, St. John’s, Providence and Rutgers.

“That was the only school I knew anything about when I came to the states,” Facey said. “I was always a UConn fan, I always liked UConn.”

De La Salle High School (Concord, CA) head coach Frank Allocco is “emerging as the leading candidate” to replace Mike Dunlap at St. John’s after two meetings with Johnnies head coach Steve Lavin, a source close to the process told SNY.tv.

Lavin expects to name a new coach within the next month after Dunlap was tabbed to coach the Charlotte Bobcats.

Lavin and Allocco, 58, met this past weekend in TriBeca and the De La Salle coach toured the St. John’s campus, met the coaching staff, the St. John’s brass and continued dialogue regarding the assistant opening.

A native of New Providence, N.J., Allocco has compiled a 413-52 record as head coach at De La Salle since 1997.