Joseph Girard III
Photo courtesy of @ToddSchlagelTV

With Joseph Girard III becoming the top scorer in New York high school history, St. John’s should try to get him to stay in the Big Apple.

When you look at St. John’s offense this season, points have been hard to come by at times. While Joseph Girard III is still only a junior in high school, he is a name Red Storm fans should get to know throughout the Class of 2019 recruiting process.

On Thursday, Zach Braziller of the New York Post tweeted that Chris Mullin and the St. John’s staff have recently been in touch with Girard III and that their recruitment of him has picked up:

Back in June, Girard III made a visit to St. John’s, so it is clear that he is pretty high on their list for the 2019 class:

Girard III goes to Glens Fall High School, which is located less than four hours away from Carnesecca Arena. Last Tuesday night, he scored 44 points in his team’s 74-68 win, which allowed him to become the all-time leading scorer in New York state history, surpassing current Indiana Pacer guard Lance Stephenson.

Now, when you think about Glens Falls, the name that will pop into everyone’s mind is Jimmer Fredette. While Fredette’s NBA career didn’t live up to what he did in college at BYU, he was an instant scoring sensation that was must-see TV every time he took the floor as a collegiate athlete.

While St. John’s hasn’t had the results on the court that fans would like, they have done a good job in recruiting. If they were able to land Girard III, it would be a huge get for the school considering The Post Star reported two months ago that he had about 16 scholarship offers from big-time programs. As Braziller also pointed out on Saturday, St. John’s is one of many schools who have given him an offer.

In this era of basketball, the three-point shot is more valued than ever before. It is the ultimate equalizer that can help an underdog stay competitive with a top-of-the-line team. For St. John’s, the goal needs to be to find good perimeter shooters going forward.

Depending upon what happens in the developing of Bryan Trimble Jr., the two guards could be a formidable perimeter duo two years from now with their three-point shooting. This season, Trimble Jr. has attempted 66 shots as a bench player for the Red Storm. Out of those 66 shots, 57 of them have been attempted from beyond the arc (29.8 percent made).

If Girard III has anything close to Fredette’s ability to shoot the three-pointer when he was at BYU, then St. John’s would have an excellent future if they were able to get him to commit to playing at Carnesecca Arena.

While St. John’s is not near competing with the giants of college basketball just yet, landing a top scorer like Girard III and winning the battle over some major programs could get the program going in the right direction. Who knows, perhaps the team’s recent win over Duke will help sway him to stay close-to-home at the next level.

I graduated from St. John's University with a degree in sports management. I previously wrote about the Johnnies at Rumble In the Garden.