St. John's has hired from within to replace legendary men's basketball coach Jim Smith.  Pat McKenzie was named the new head men's basketball coach today.  McKenzie has been an assistant for Jim Smith for the past 9 years and played for Smith from 2000-2004.  Smith held the head men's basketball coaching position at St. John's for the past 51 seasons.  Smith stays on at St. John's until the end of June when he officially retires.

Pat McKenzie's dad, Pat, was the point guard on 4 national tournament teams at St. John's from 1975-1979.  The Johnnies are expected to return 84.3 percent (1,584 of 1,878 points) of their scoring from last season in 2015-16, including All-MIAC first-team guards Mitchell Kuck (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) and Alex Schmitt (Waconia, Minn.).

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