BIG EAST 2007-2008 PREVIEW: 14) ST. JOHN'S

September 23, 2007



ST. JOHN'S ESSENTIALS:

Official Website of the St. John’s Redstorm

Official 2007-2008 St. John’s Roster & Bios

Meet Coach Norm Roberts

Carnesecca Arena and Madison Square Garden: The Homes of the Redstorm.

2007-2008 St. John’s Redstorm Schedule


OVERVIEW:

Norm Roberts enters his fourth season at St. John’s still in search of returning the Redstorm to their past glory in the Big East conference. Strides were made in the 2006-2007 season in which Roberts guided the ‘Storm to their first Big East Tournament appearance in four seasons, however, a post-season appearance in the NIT or NCAA Tournament still alludes St. John’s under Roberts and getting that to change in the 2007-2008 season might be a tall order.

Due to graduation and a continuous revolving door of players leaving the program, the Redstorm are forced to ‘rebuild’ already under Roberts. However, due to their previous lack of success, it is unclear exactly what they are trying to ‘rebuild’ when in reality, it looks as though they are starting over with seven incoming freshman joining just four returning players with Big East experience. St. John’s will be looking for contributions from up to eight players who have never competed at the Division 1-A level, not exactly the formula for success in this conference (see Connecticut and Cincinnati circa 2006-2007, as examples.

It has not been all bad for that long, in 2002-2003 St. John’s was the NIT Champions, following an NCAA appearance in 2001-2002, a 2-seed in 1999-2000 and a run to the Elite 8 in 1998-1999 under Mike Jarvis. However, his lack of recruiting and some off the court issues quickly led to the bottom falling out with a disastrous season in 2003-2004 which led to Jarvis losing his job and Roberts coming into the picture for the 2004-2005 season. Brought in with a reputation as a strong recruiter with discipline, he looked like a good fit for a school in need of a lift in both areas, especially in the local circles.




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However, while John Beilein was able to take West Virginia from a similar situation after a 1-15 conference record in the 2001-2002 Big East campaign to the Elite 8 in 2004-2005 West Virginia also saw a coach leave in-season and had another leave quickly after being hired after the season because of a lack of institutional control and pending NCAA penalties, Roberts has not seen such success and, after losing over 60% of their scoring and 53% of their rebounding in Big East action from last season, matching their seven win conference total of a season ago, even with two additional conference games, is a tall order,

2006-2007 SEASON:

For the first time in four seasons the Redstorm qualified for the Big East Tournament, which is played on their home court at Madison Square Garden. They did so by posting a 7-9 conference mark, which was highlighted by two-game home sweep of Syracuse and Notre Dame in a 48-hour period in January. They also started Big East play with a nice win over DePaul and finished the season with a win over Providence. In between St. John’s managed wins over Cincinnati, South Florida and Rutgers.

The Redstorm were never able to develop any consistency. Following up their stirring wins over the Orange and Irish, St. John’s bombed in their next two, losing by 26 at Pitt and by 24 at home against Georgetown. They also suffered a 27-pt loss at West Virginia and a 24-point loss at Louisville, being completely outclassed in those contests.

From that 2006-2007 squad, Lamont Hamilton, the team’s leading scorer and rebounding on the season has graduated. Also, Aaron Spears and Daryll Hill (plagued again by injuries) have used up their eligibility. However, the biggest blow to their ‘Storm’s chances this season was the transfers of Avery Patterson, Qa’rraan Calhoun and Ricky Torres, forcing the Redstorm to be very inexperienced this coming season. Eugene Lawrence and Anthony Mason are returning starters and Mason has the potential to have a very big year, however, he can not do it all alone for St. John’s.

THE BACKCOURT:

Two players return for 2007-2008 with experience in the St. John’s backcourt, senior Eugene Lawrence and sophomore Larry Wright. Lawrence was one of the top assist men in the Big East last year, averaging 5.6 on the season. However, with Lawrence, you also get a lot of turnovers, four per game, from the physical point guard. Lawrence doesn’t score a lot (about 7 PPG), but will have to assume more of an offensive mindset with the lack of experience around him.

Larry Wright showed some nice promise as a freshman, but averaged just 3.8 PPG in under 13 minutes of action in conference play last season. Wright did hit 46% (12-26) from 3-pt range in Big East play and he has exciting athletic ability which makes him a break-out candidate in his sophomore season. One thing is for certain, St. John’s is going to give him plant of chances to score and perform this year.

The Redstorm also add three newcomers to the backcourt in Malik Boothe, Paris Horne and DJ Kennedy. Boothe is a true point guard who will take care and deliver the basketball with great care. He is also a tenacious defender, although just standing 5’8. Boothe is a local NYC product and should be a very good point guard in the future. Horne is a 6’3 wing guard out of Delaware who prepped last season Bridgton Academy. Horne will be asked to provide some scoring pop from the outside. DJ Kennedy also joins the squad out of Pittsburgh’s Schenley High School. The multi-dimensional 6’5 G/F handles the ball very well and is an excellent passer for his size. He has excellent athletic ability, but needs to sharpen his skills to be highly successful in the Big East. He is ready to compete athletically and should see time early on.


THE FRONTCOURT:

St. John’s top returning player is junior forward Anthony Mason. The 6’7 small forward could be one of the most exciting players in the Big East and began to take his game to another level down the stretch which included improved consistency, averaging over 16 PPG in the last six Big East contests. Mason also led SJU in rebounding during league play. He combines great size and athletic ability with an inside/out game on the wing, hopefully the lack of bodies at SJU will not force him to play more of a ‘4’ position.

The only other returning player from last season is Tomas Jasiulionis, who averaged just 1.6 PPG in 8 minutes of action in league play. He will be pushed for time inside by freshmen Ayodele Coker and Justin Burrell. Both newcomers have exciting upside, but are still working on developing their basketball skills as there are still relatively new to the game. Coker is 6’10 and is already strong enough to play in the Big East. He is not afraid to mix it up in the post. He will help out on defense and rebounding, but expect him to pick up fouls quickly early on. Burrell is an exciting physical specimen that will try to dunk everything he can. To be as successful as he can be, he will have to improve his hands and learn more offensive moves to score inside against the bigger players in the conference. As Coker and Burrell develop, they should be a fine duo in the post for SJU in the future, but expect their baptism by fire to be rocky this season.

Adding depth in the frontcourt will be freshman Mike Cavataio on the wing and Sean Evans at forward. In most instances, both would be likely redshirt candidates, but SJU needs players now and both could be pressed into action. Cavataio could use a year to get stronger and Evans will be in his first year concentrating on basketball as the former football prospect has decided to pursue a career on the hardwood.

The final member of the St. John’s roster is forward Rob Thomas, who was forced to sit out last season to shore up his academics and then suffered a knee injury last spring. Thomas was not expected to be eligible until the second semester this season but now he will have to rehab even harder to get in shape, something that plagued him towards the end of his prep career. When in shape and on his game, Thomas is a dynamic offensive weapon inside and out, but it is to be determined how long it will take him to get backup to speed or if he can.


2007-2008 PREDICTION:

Last season, Connecticut welcomed in a recruiting class of seven highly touted freshmen and had a couple players with returning with Big East experience. St. John’s is in a similar situation this season, although their incoming players are not as highly regarded in recruiting circles and UConn was coming off an Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament and St. John’s did not even make it to the Elite 8 of the Big East Tournament. The Husky situation showed how tough it is to win with youth and inexperience dominating your roster in this league. I like some of the pieced that St. John’s has in place for two or three years down the road, however, player retention has not been strong in the program of late. Expect this team to struggle night in and night out, however they will also play hard and could steal a few games on the defensive end at home. It would be a minor surprise to see them qualify for the Big East Tournament, although that should be their goal. Anything more would be gravy.


BIG EAST PREDICTION: 5-13