Gathering storm: Long Island standout Kia Wright ends up at St. John's after short stint at UConn

By: Joel Godett

Posted: 12/6/06

Kim Barnes Arico checked her voicemail. The St. John's women's basketball coach thought it was a prank-a bad one.

"She had left me a couple messages and I wasn't sure if it was really true, or if somebody was playing a bad joke at the time," Barnes Arico said.

The "she" is Kia Wright, a 5-foot-8 guard from Long Island. At the time, Wright was a top-20 recruit entering her freshman year in 2003 at Connecticut, the reigning NCAA champion.

"I thought one of my friends was playing a mean trick on me," Barnes Arico said. "One of the best players in the country, on the best team in the country, with the best coach in the country wants to come to St. John's, and at that time we hadn't established anything."

One day everything made sense. Barnes Arico, a year into her St. John's tenure, was out recruiting and called the office to check her voicemails.

"My secretary said (Connecticut coach) Geno (Auriemma) called," Barnes Arico said.

A UConn press release had announced the signing of Wright just months before. It quoted Auriemma as saying Wright was an "explosive and athletic player with great court vision." But she never saw the floor of the Huskies' Gampel Pavilion. Just days after arriving, Wright wanted out of Connecticut. She wanted to go home.

"Just being away from home, it was tough," Wright said. "I think I started to cry the second my parents drove away. I graduated high school three days before I left, so I was young. I wasn't ready for it at all."

Wright said Auriemma was very helpful in finding her a new home. After Wright said she wasn't interested in junior college or prep school, St. John's became her new destination. Auriemma called the Red Storm.

St. John's will host Syracuse Thursday at 7 p.m.

Barnes Arico was enthralled to pick up the player, especially after missing out on her the first time. When Barnes Arico took over at SJU, Wright had already narrowed down her recruiting choices. The Red Storm was on the outside.

"Born and raised in Long Island and Suffolk County where she's from, she was the talk of Suffolk County since she was in about seventh grade," Barnes Arico said.

Wright struggled once she arrived in Queens. She ended up withdrawing from classes altogether her first semester while sitting out her transfer year per NCAA rules. She came back in the spring, but her coach said without the time off Wright might not have made it.

"There were definitely a couple of times when I wasn't sure if she was going to (make it)," Barnes Arico said. "She had just left UConn. She had a lot of stuff going on. I don't think she was ready for college life, college athletics, college academics at that point."

Things changed once Wright came back the next year. Barnes Arico saw a new player, an inconsistent player, yes, but that's what the coach said comes with being a freshman. It was at the beginning of the year when Barnes Arico knew for sure she had something special.

"We played in the first tournament at St. Bonaventure opening weekend," Barnes Arico said. "And the first game she played she dropped 30 points and she had about eight or nine assists. I walked off the court and said 'Oh my god. Who is this girl?'"

The success has only grown. She is one of three unanimous selections to this season's preseason All-Big East team, and was invited to the Team USA U-20 tryouts. But Wright's biggest accomplishment is helping to turn around the St. John's program.

Two years before Wright's arrival on campus in the 2001-02 season, the Red Storm was a lowly 3-24 and 0-16 in conference. Last season St. John's went 22-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Wright didn't do it alone. Her help came from her high school teammate Angela Clark. The two won a New York Class A State Championship together. Last year, the two teamed up to score 40-percent of the team's points.

"It wasn't a big deal until I stepped out on the court with her again," Wright said. "I remembered how much fun we had."

But it's not the same this season. Wright is battling an injury and Clark left the team for personal reasons. Without its two stars St. John's is off to a 2-4 start. Regardless, Barnes Arico said when people look back, it will be Wright and Clark whose names will mark the rebirth of the program.

"They were the first two that took a chance on a program that had been down for a number of years," Barnes Arico said. "They really helped us get it going and get it back started again … and become one of the best programs around."