2022-23 Season

Random Sunday thought... our roster would seemingly look so complete if Wheeler chose to stay...

Curbelo/Posh/Jones/Wheeler/Soriano would seem to be as complete a starting 5 we've put out in a while... combine that with a mix of Wusu/Pinzon/Mathis/Storr/Nywie of the bench...

No way Wheeler can say no to the pro ranks now? Storm Marketing cant put together a 6figure package for him? lol
 
RedStormNC said:
Zach article on retooled roster

nypost.com

Optimism around St. John’s retooled roster comes with one big question

St. John’s roster, which is now complete after last weekend’s addition of 7-foot-1 high school prospect Mohamed Keita, looks far better than initial expectations.
nypost.com nypost.com
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I think Zach is getting a bit carried away here. Jones is a nice player(not a star, yet) and Curbelo is a talented question mark. They are, more or less, being asked to replace a first team All league player, and a player who played like an all league player the 2nd half of last season. If he wants to call them "POTENTIAL difference makers", I get it. And with all due respect to his sources, I don't see this team right now being a 4th place team and dancing. At best, IMO, we replaced our outgoing talent with comparable incoming talent. I still think a lot of you guys are underestimating the impact of losing Champ. The kid had some flaws, like all players do, but he was a stud that other teams were forced to key on. Who's that player this season? Now, maybe the returning players take an nice step forward-I don't see anyone but Posh having break out season potential-and the newcomers play up to expectations, and we surprise everyone But as is always the case, some players will meet expectations, some will exceed them and some will come up short. We still have a lot of holes and a lot of question marks. Whether or not the holes get filled and the question marks get answered, won't be determined until they roll out the balls next season.
 
monte said:
I think Zach is getting a bit carried away here. Jones is a nice player(not a star, yet) and Curbelo is a talented question mark. They are, more or less, being asked to replace a first team All league player, and a player who played like an all league player the 2nd half of last season. If he wants to call them "POTENTIAL difference makers", I get it. And with all due respect to his sources, I don't see this team right now being a 4th place team and dancing. At best, IMO, we replaced our outgoing talent with comparable incoming talent. I still think a lot of you guys are underestimating the impact of losing Champ. The kid had some flaws, like all players do, but he was a stud that other teams were forced to key on. Who's that player this season? Now, maybe the returning players take an nice step forward-I don't see anyone but Posh having break out season potential-and the newcomers play up to expectations, and we surprise everyone But as is always the case, some players will meet expectations, some will exceed them and some will come up short. We still have a lot of holes and a lot of question marks. Whether or not the holes get filled and the question marks get answered, won't be determined until they roll out the balls next season.
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I agree with you. But I'll add one thing about Champagnie. Yes, he was an all conference talent, and one of the greats of our program, and I certainly enjoyed watching him play here. But last year, he was maddeningly inconsistent. He was a now show for many of the big games where we really needed him to step up in order to win, his 3 pt % was way down, he had games where he looked timid and like he'd lost confidence in his shot. To add, he also was not a lockdown defender. So although he was a volume scorer for us, our leader, and won't be easy to replace, just thought it's fair to add this context.
 
room112 said:
I agree with you. But I'll add one thing about Champagnie. Yes, he was an all conference talent, and one of the greats of our program, and I certainly enjoyed watching him play here. But last year, he was maddeningly inconsistent. He was a now show for many of the big games where we really needed him to step up in order to win, his 3 pt % was way down, he had games where he looked timid and like he'd lost confidence in his shot. To add, he also was not a lockdown defender. So although he was a volume scorer for us, our leader, and won't be easy to replace, just thought it's fair to add this context.
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I wouldn't call Julian one of the greats. He was a really good player on a team that needed someone to score. His FG% was always in the low 40's and he was a streaky as hell with his threes. At best top 50 player in the program. Greats carry a team to the postseason. Even David Cain did that and I wouldn't put him in the "greats".
 
Fizzy said:
I wouldn't call Julian one of the greats. He was a really good player on a team that needed someone to score. His FG% was always in the low 40's and he was a streaky as hell with his threes. At best top 50 player in the program. Greats carry a team to the postseason. Even David Cain did that and I wouldn't put him in the "greats".
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“At best top 50” seems a little dismissive for a 2 time first team all BE player. I know we have a storied history but..
 
monte said:
I think Zach is getting a bit carried away here. Jones is a nice player(not a star, yet) and Curbelo is a talented question mark. They are, more or less, being asked to replace a first team All league player, and a player who played like an all league player the 2nd half of last season. If he wants to call them "POTENTIAL difference makers", I get it. And with all due respect to his sources, I don't see this team right now being a 4th place team and dancing. At best, IMO, we replaced our outgoing talent with comparable incoming talent. I still think a lot of you guys are underestimating the impact of losing Champ. The kid had some flaws, like all players do, but he was a stud that other teams were forced to key on. Who's that player this season? Now, maybe the returning players take an nice step forward-I don't see anyone but Posh having break out season potential-and the newcomers play up to expectations, and we surprise everyone But as is always the case, some players will meet expectations, some will exceed them and some will come up short. We still have a lot of holes and a lot of question marks. Whether or not the holes get filled and the question marks get answered, won't be determined until they roll out the balls next season.
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Jones literally just came off a career best season in the same Big East Champ and Posh was in. Lit us up one of those games.

Is it a stretch to say he can avg 17-18 ppg next year?

Is it a stretch to say that Curbelo can return to preseason all American form?
 
BigRed2 said:
Jones literally just came off a career best season in the same Big East Champ and Posh was in. Lit us up one of those games.

Is it a stretch to say he can avg 17-18 ppg next year?

Is it a stretch to say that Curbelo can return to preseason all American form?
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Jones coming off solid season merits optimism, while to me Curbelo, coming off atrocious, turnover prone season deserves caution. Of course on Andre, he can show last season was a fluke and become an efficient, team first, orchestrating point guard, but I won’t automatically assume that. Optimistic, but cautious on AC is my take.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
“At best top 50” seems a little dismissive for a 2 time first team all BE player. I know we have a storied history but..
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...And if he played one more year would probably have been a 2,000 points/750 rebounds player which would have made him the 4th best scorer in team history and 15th leading rebounder. As it is he is 20th leading scorer in school history.
 
For some reason I think the season wil come down to how well Curbelo plays. I truly believe Jones can replace Champs. We need Curbelo to step up and play like the high level player he was as a Freshman. If he does that I believe we can make the NCAA. If he can't we will most likely struggle again. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
 
Sometimes when a star player leaves the next season the team is better because the other players realize they don't need to depend on that play or defer to him. Now is time for others to step up and I suspect a few of them will, to lead to a good season.
 
Go Red Storm said:
Sometimes when a star player leaves the next season the team is better because the other players realize they don't need to depend on that play or defer to him. Now is time for others to step up and I suspect a few of them will, to lead to a good season.
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This is true but emphasis on the "sometimes."
86 - Mullin leaves and the team is arguably the second-best of the modern era.
87 - Berry leaves and they're nowhere near as good even with Mark Jackson.
93 - Sealy leaves and SJU with David Cain gets to the 2nd round of the NCAAs better than the year prior.
99 - Felipe and Zendon leave and Ron Artest leads SJU to Elite 8.
 
I feel strongly that Pinzon and Nyiwe may surprise this year and if Storr is as good as advertised I think we can do very well in the Big East. I do worry about the defensive rebounding though not as much about the 3 pt shooting
 
Curbelo and Jones vs. Champagnie and Wheeler is an odd way to look at next year versus this year. It assumes that every single one of the following players who have stayed in the program and played last year will not improve:

Posh
Addae-Wusu
Pinzon
Nyiwe
Soriano
Mathis
Stanley
Troare (redshirt)

Anything is possible but that seems highly unlikely to me.

On top of that I agree Curbelo is a wild card but it's logical to expect Jones to be better than Wheeler, who has become a lot more popular here now than when he played for SJU. How does it make sense to cherry pick Wheelers play in the second half of last season and compare it to Jones but not project any improvement for Jones from what he did this year?

I don't consider myself a rose-colored glasses guy, in fact I had my manhood challenged on this site around this time last year for suggesting that nine guys transferring out was a real problem. Which, of course it was. Well, that didn't happen this time, and considering the current environment the retention rate this year has been remarkable.

That will matter, and don't worry, it's okay to be optimistic. I am looking forward to this year much more than last.
 
I don’t know maybe it’s time we take the is Mike Anderson the right coach out of this discussion. He’s the Coach. Love it or not right now he’s the guy. I am sure it’ll all be dissected after the upcoming season.

It is fair to say that next season when it happens will reveal a lot. This team seemingly has some pieces. The roster, certainly not overwhelming, has some hopeful notes. Posh and Curbelo should form an excellent backcourt. Soriano is a serviceable big and perhaps with a season under his belt improves. They have some players like Jones, Mathis and Wusu who seem to play the style the Coach wants. No matter how we slice it players like Pinzon, and yes true freshman Storr will need to contribute. We don’t have the luxury of bringing along too many players slowly. I also saw some promise in Nyiwe. I suspect King and Traore and our new big Keita will play sparingly.

Bottom line is I have no idea what to expect. The last several years seem to be that we almost always disappoint and underperform. Maybe this is the year we flip the script and something good happens? At least there is still hope.
 
Amaseinyourface said:
“At best top 50” seems a little dismissive for a 2 time first team all BE player. I know we have a storied history but..
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For reference list of STJs players to be All BE 1st team twice:
Champagnie
Ponds
D-Lo
Hatten
Sealy (plus 2nd team once)
Mark Jackson
Mullin - THRICE (2nd team once)

Also for reference here's those that were first team once:
Hardy
Lamont Hamilton (2nd once, 3rd once)
Barkely
Artest
Felipe (plus 3rd twice)
David Cain
Boo
Truth (plus 2nd team once)
David Russell (plus 2nd team 3x)
Reggie Carter

And here's everyone else who made 2nd or third team:
Wayne McKoy (2nd once, 3rd once)
Fran Gilroy (3rd)
Billy Goodwin (3rd twice)
Wennington (2nd once, 3rd once)
Mike Moses (3rd team)
Willie Glass (3rd)
Buchanan (2nd)
Werdann (3rd)
Shawnelle (2nd once, 3rd once)
Middleton (3rd)
Michael Porter (3rd)
Shelton Jones (2nd)
Jayson Williams (2nd)
Zendon (2nd team 3x)
Bootsy (1 2nd, 1 3rd)
Lavor (2nd)
Omar (3rd)
Showtime (3rd)
Sir'Dom (2nd)

That's 36 players from the Big East era. Safe to say the top 36. I'm sure one of the old guys could reel off another 30 or more from the previous era. Still would be tough to have 2 first team all BE and not be top 50. Agreed.
 
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