It’s been nearly three months since Mike Anderson was named St. John’s coach, and a lot has happened since then.

He’s landed four recruits: high school prospects John McGriff and Julian Champagnie, junior college transfer Damien Sears and Monmouth grad transfer Nick Rutherford. Anderson kept a key piece, in rising junior wing LJ Figueroa, an all-league talent. He put together an experienced staff. Most recently, he’s been running workouts, getting to know his new team.

The 59-year-old former UAB, Missouri and Arkansas coach shared some of his thoughts so far on his new job, recruiting methods and the current roster with The Post following a workout on Tuesday:

Q: What are your impressions of the roster so far?

A: We’re still in evaluation mode. Of course, the guys that played quite a bit last year are the guys we’re going to lean on. That’s Mustapha [Heron], LJ. Those guys are going to be real key in what we do. … There will be some guys that open some guys’ eyes. We got a lot of guys who are still a work in progress. There’s question marks, but now this is the process of trying to find some of those answers.

Q: Do you have the players to fit your relentless, up-and-down, pressing style?

A: That’s going to be the plan. That’s our mindset. A lot of work [has to get done] to get to that point. I think we’ve got some pieces. We’ll get some more pieces. We brought some guys in we hope can help us. I believe we can play [my style]. That’s going to be the plan. … I have to develop these guys to a level where I can trust them out on the floor. It’s all about trust, me trusting them and them trusting me.

A: I think Greg is going to be a really good player for us. He needs some more reps defensively. He’s pretty good offensively. He’s capable of knocking shots down. It’s a matter of him understanding the things I’m going to demand from him day in and day out. Greg is a combo guard. I think he can play both positions.

Q: Rising sophomore Marcellus Earlington?

A: You’re going to see a guy like him who played minimal minutes last year. Now it’s an opportunity for him to come out and, who knows, be a glue guy for us.



Q: Incoming freshman Julian Champagnie?

A: I think Julian is going to be an excellent player. He’s the type of player we want in our program. Versatile — I like versatile.

Q; Heron and Figueroa are both playing in the Pan-American Games in Peru. How can that help them and your team?

A; That is huge for those guys, and having that experience, and bringing that experience back to our team, I think it’s going to pay off. You’ll see those guys assume the face of our team.

Q: How important is it to recruit well locally?

A: There’s a lot of talent here, and obviously we want to keep the best talent here at St. John’s. How hard is that to do? I think we just got to go to work. We got to be out there, we got to build relationships, we got to let coaches, let the families know, let the players know, guess what? We can do it at St. John’s. It’s been done at St. John’s.

Q: You have one open scholarship left. Are you planning to fill it?

A: We’re not done recruiting yet. We’re trying to bring in the best candidate that’s out there, preferably a guy with size.

Observations and notes:

St. John’s will open the season at Carnesecca Arena against Mercer of the Southern Conference, according to a source. It is also expecting to play seven regular season games at Madison Square Garden after that number had decreased in recent years. Six of those will come in league play and another against West Virginia in the first annual Big East-Big 12 Challenge. Last season, St. John’s played at the Garden just five times, and athletic director Mike Cragg has talked about wanting to play there more frequently.



N.C. State transfer Ian Steere stood out the most in practice, throwing down a number of impressive dunks. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound forward is more than just a big body. He seems to have the athleticism to be a difference-maker in the paint. St. John’s is hoping that Steere, a former four-star recruit who played in just one game as a freshman for the Wolfpack, can get a waiver to play right away. Otherwise, he has to sit out the first semester.

Champagnie, the lanky freshman from Bishop Loughlin in Brooklyn, is every bit his listed 6-foot-7 size, if not bigger.

Anderson is very hands on. He’s in charge of practice. He’s active, vocal and engaged. After the workout, for instance, he worked with a few guys shooting free throws.