St. John’s
The Red Storm are one of the winners of the offseason, in my opinion. Most importantly, welcoming junior forward Julian Champagnie back to the fold after he led the BIG EAST with 19.8 points per game last season makes the Johnnies an NCAA Tournament contender.
Reigning BIG EAST Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year Posh Alexander has the makeup of a player who should only get better in his second year in Queens. While the Johnnies had some departures from their roster early in the transfer cycle, they made up for it with quality additions.
One area of concern for the Johnnies in the past has been size. Reigning BIG EAST Coach of the Year Mike Anderson and his staff addressed that need by bringing in 6-9 Aaron Wheeler from Purdue. Wheeler, who appeared in all 28 games last season and started five of those contests, averaged over 18 minutes per game for a Purdue squad that earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. By all accounts from Carnesecca Arena, Wheeler was a bright spot during summer workouts. St. John’s was not done there, adding Fordham transfer Joel Soriano. The New York native averaged 10.4 points and 9.2 boards per game in the Atlantic 10 last season.
With Vermont transfer Stef Smith and Rutgers transfer Montez Mathis coming in, Alexander will have fellow weapons in the backcourt in addition to his high school teammate, sophomore Dylan Addae-Wusu. The pieces are on the table, and SJU has two All-BIG EAST First Team candidates with Champagnie and Alexander. Year three of the Anderson Era should be the best yet.
[URL]https://www.bigeast.com/news/2021/8/16/mens-basketball-bigeasthoops-notebook-looking-ahead.aspx[/URL]
The Red Storm are one of the winners of the offseason, in my opinion. Most importantly, welcoming junior forward Julian Champagnie back to the fold after he led the BIG EAST with 19.8 points per game last season makes the Johnnies an NCAA Tournament contender.
Reigning BIG EAST Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year Posh Alexander has the makeup of a player who should only get better in his second year in Queens. While the Johnnies had some departures from their roster early in the transfer cycle, they made up for it with quality additions.
One area of concern for the Johnnies in the past has been size. Reigning BIG EAST Coach of the Year Mike Anderson and his staff addressed that need by bringing in 6-9 Aaron Wheeler from Purdue. Wheeler, who appeared in all 28 games last season and started five of those contests, averaged over 18 minutes per game for a Purdue squad that earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. By all accounts from Carnesecca Arena, Wheeler was a bright spot during summer workouts. St. John’s was not done there, adding Fordham transfer Joel Soriano. The New York native averaged 10.4 points and 9.2 boards per game in the Atlantic 10 last season.
With Vermont transfer Stef Smith and Rutgers transfer Montez Mathis coming in, Alexander will have fellow weapons in the backcourt in addition to his high school teammate, sophomore Dylan Addae-Wusu. The pieces are on the table, and SJU has two All-BIG EAST First Team candidates with Champagnie and Alexander. Year three of the Anderson Era should be the best yet.
[URL]https://www.bigeast.com/news/2021/8/16/mens-basketball-bigeasthoops-notebook-looking-ahead.aspx[/URL]
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