Is Obekpa Next? No! He's staying!

Nation's best shot-blockers - from ESPN, behind their pay wall
He was one of five guys listed. Fran Fraschilla wrote it..

Chris Obekpa, St. John's Red Storm
It was an unusual sophomore season for Obekpa. He started only 17 of 32 games after leading the nation in blocks as a freshman (4.0 per contest), blocked fewer shots, and announced his intention to transfer after the season. Then he pulled a 180 and elected to return to the Red Storm. The decision will be fortuitous for coach Steve Lavin.

Obekpa will be one of 11 players returning for Lavin, who has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season. Getting the 6-9 junior back on track will be a key for the Red Storm defense. He already owns the St. John's school record for blocks with 229.

How about that part that says: "has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season"
???

I wonder if Fran posts on his board...
 
Nation's best shot-blockers - from ESPN, behind their pay wall
He was one of five guys listed. Fran Fraschilla wrote it..

Chris Obekpa, St. John's Red Storm
It was an unusual sophomore season for Obekpa. He started only 17 of 32 games after leading the nation in blocks as a freshman (4.0 per contest), blocked fewer shots, and announced his intention to transfer after the season. Then he pulled a 180 and elected to return to the Red Storm. The decision will be fortuitous for coach Steve Lavin.

Obekpa will be one of 11 players returning for Lavin, who has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season. Getting the 6-9 junior back on track will be a key for the Red Storm defense. He already owns the St. John's school record for blocks with 229.

How about that part that says: "has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season"
???

I wonder if Fran posts on his board...
Click to expand...

Lost Jakarr, Sanchez and Gift.
Add Thomas, Lawrence and DeLaRosa.
Possible top 25?
 
Nation's best shot-blockers - from ESPN, behind their pay wall
He was one of five guys listed. Fran Fraschilla wrote it..

Chris Obekpa, St. John's Red Storm
It was an unusual sophomore season for Obekpa. He started only 17 of 32 games after leading the nation in blocks as a freshman (4.0 per contest), blocked fewer shots, and announced his intention to transfer after the season. Then he pulled a 180 and elected to return to the Red Storm. The decision will be fortuitous for coach Steve Lavin.

Obekpa will be one of 11 players returning for Lavin, who has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season. Getting the 6-9 junior back on track will be a key for the Red Storm defense. He already owns the St. John's school record for blocks with 229.

How about that part that says: "has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season"
???

I wonder if Fran posts on his board...
Click to expand...

Lost Jakarr, Sanchez and Gift.
Add Thomas, Lawrence and DeLaRosa.
Possible top 25?
Click to expand...

I think Jr. Obekpa, Thomas, and ADR are a much better fit for this tem than So. Obekpa, Sampson, and Sanchez.

Sanchez was one of the worst defenders in the nation irrespective of position that didn't rebound out of his area at all, and he didn't do enough on offense to even that out. Sampson was a below average defender who was another part of that trio of players that destroyed any chance at chemistry on the offensive end (Pointer being the third).

Obviously Sampson was the best talent of the group, but he was not the player we needed. We had two just like him already.
 
Nation's best shot-blockers - from ESPN, behind their pay wall
He was one of five guys listed. Fran Fraschilla wrote it..

Chris Obekpa, St. John's Red Storm
It was an unusual sophomore season for Obekpa. He started only 17 of 32 games after leading the nation in blocks as a freshman (4.0 per contest), blocked fewer shots, and announced his intention to transfer after the season. Then he pulled a 180 and elected to return to the Red Storm. The decision will be fortuitous for coach Steve Lavin.

Obekpa will be one of 11 players returning for Lavin, who has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season. Getting the 6-9 junior back on track will be a key for the Red Storm defense. He already owns the St. John's school record for blocks with 229.

How about that part that says: "has a team that should start in the AP Top 25 next season"
???

I wonder if Fran posts on his board...
Click to expand...
How can we return 11 players when we had 13 on scholarship, have 2 new guys and 3 open (left). 13-5=8.
 
This team will not even come close to starting the season in the Top 25. As previous posters have already mentioned, this group is going to have a very tough time scoring against better competition. D'Angelo Harrison and Rysheed Jordan are a very good backcourt and will probably be relied upon to score 30-35 points per night. And despite his faults, Phil Greene IV can get hot at times and is more than capable of putting up 10-15 points in a game (that being said, he'll probably average about 8 ppg). Past that, St. John's just does not have any natural scorers on their team. Dom completely regressed this past year and I think it's impossible to predict what he will be next year. Keith Thomas has a very nice write up, but none of us have ever seen him live and it's hard to pencil him in as an immediate starter. Maybe he's one of those players that comes in and averages 10 ppg, 8 rpg from day one. Or maybe he's one of those players who has trouble adjusting to the speed of elite college basketball. And although I'm psyched to have Chris Obekpa back with the team, I doubt he goes from 3.8 ppg to 10 ppg.

So the question has to be asked. Where is the offense going to come from? We can all knock JaKarr Sampson and Orlando Sanchez, but the fact of the matter is both of them had offensive skills. St. John's has not replaced that offense as of yet.
 
This team will not even come close to starting the season in the Top 25. As previous posters have already mentioned, this group is going to have a very tough time scoring against better competition. D'Angelo Harrison and Rysheed Jordan are a very good backcourt and will probably be relied upon to score 30-35 points per night. And despite his faults, Phil Greene IV can get hot at times and is more than capable of putting up 10-15 points in a game (that being said, he'll probably average about 8 ppg). Past that, St. John's just does not have any natural scorers on their team. Dom completely regressed this past year and I think it's impossible to predict what he will be next year. Keith Thomas has a very nice write up, but none of us have ever seen him live and it's hard to pencil him in as an immediate starter. Maybe he's one of those players that comes in and averages 10 ppg, 8 rpg from day one. Or maybe he's one of those players who has trouble adjusting to the speed of elite college basketball. And although I'm psyched to have Chris Obekpa back with the team, I doubt he goes from 3.8 ppg to 10 ppg.

So the question has to be asked. Where is the offense going to come from? We can all knock JaKarr Sampson and Orlando Sanchez, but the fact of the matter is both of them had offensive skills. St. John's has not replaced that offense as of yet.
Click to expand...

it will not be hard to replace sanchez's offense on this team....he really wasnt that valuable to us...Orlando sanchez averaged 7 points a game for us and that is very inflated if you take into account he had 8 double digit games out of the 32 games he played in.....including 19 against Fordham....and most of those double digit explosions were against our weaker competition.....so take those out and he averaged 5 points a game....I think we can find those points from almost anyone on this team.....he really wasn't much of an offensive weapon for us like he potentially could have been but with Jordan's game expected to improve both scoring and assisting and with Thomas and hopefully others learning how to finish those passes from Jordan inside (how many layups did we miss GG and company? or get fouled on and missed the ft's?) .....keep phil greene on the wing for spot up jumpers (I know he gets bashed a lot but when used properly he has a nice shot) and hoping Thomas is the offensive rebounder we hope he is which he can either put em back in or dish out for the open shots I see us being a significantly better offensive team this year.....just those kick out open 3's will make a huge difference......
 
So the question has to be asked. Where is the offense going to come from? We can all knock JaKarr Sampson and Orlando Sanchez, but the fact of the matter is both of them had offensive skills. St. John's has not replaced that offense as of yet.
Click to expand...

If our PG and DH do not raise their collective FG % above 40% there will be not be an NCAA tourney berth. Both will be relied on for points along with Jordan. With a smaller three guard rotation you figure to have less offensive rebounds, so unless your guards make shots, you are not going to be a tourney caliber team. More than anything, that was our problem last year, and will continue to be unless our guards shoot better. Expect Jordan to connect at a 45% or better clip.
 
How can we return 11 players when we had 13 on scholarship, have 2 new guys and 3 open (left). 13-5=8.
Click to expand...

I think that the 3 other returns are the walkons (Ndiaye, Lipscomb and Walston).
 
So the question has to be asked. Where is the offense going to come from? We can all knock JaKarr Sampson and Orlando Sanchez, but the fact of the matter is both of them had offensive skills. St. John's has not replaced that offense as of yet.
Click to expand...

If our PG and DH do not raise their collective FG % above 40% there will be not be an NCAA tourney berth. Both will be relied on for points along with Jordan. With a smaller three guard rotation you figure to have less offensive rebounds, so unless your guards make shots, you are not going to be a tourney caliber team. More than anything, that was our problem last year, and will continue to be unless our guards shoot better. Expect Jordan to connect at a 45% or better clip.
Click to expand...

Jordan needs to take over the team and just score and run the point. A top point guard can get you very far in College ball
 
I'm expecting Jordan to take a big step forward this year. But the problem remains that St. John's does not have a reliable inside scorer on their roster.

What's going to happen when teams inevitably run a zone against our team? They don't have any great shooters (PG IV is probably the best of the group) and no wings or big men that can knock down a 15 footer. It's going to cause a lot of problems for them.
 
I'm expecting Jordan to take a big step forward this year. But the problem remains that St. John's does not have a reliable inside scorer on their roster.

What's going to happen when teams inevitably run a zone against our team? They don't have any great shooters (PG IV is probably the best of the group) and no wings or big men that can knock down a 15 footer. It's going to cause a lot of problems for them.
Click to expand...

Harrison has an outside shot as much as Greene does if not better. Harrison has to be more consistent. Someone needs to develop to help the inside game
 
I'm expecting Jordan to take a big step forward this year. But the problem remains that St. John's does not have a reliable inside scorer on their roster.

What's going to happen when teams inevitably run a zone against our team? They don't have any great shooters (PG IV is probably the best of the group) and no wings or big men that can knock down a 15 footer. It's going to cause a lot of problems for them.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Bryce Cotton was able to "carry" Providence because Kadeem Batts and LaDontae Henton were also scoring double digits every game.
 
So the question has to be asked. Where is the offense going to come from? We can all knock JaKarr Sampson and Orlando Sanchez, but the fact of the matter is both of them had offensive skills. St. John's has not replaced that offense as of yet.
Click to expand...

If our PG and DH do not raise their collective FG % above 40% there will be not be an NCAA tourney berth. Both will be relied on for points along with Jordan. With a smaller three guard rotation you figure to have less offensive rebounds, so unless your guards make shots, you are not going to be a tourney caliber team. More than anything, that was our problem last year, and will continue to be unless our guards shoot better. Expect Jordan to connect at a 45% or better clip.
Click to expand...

Jordan needs to take over the team and just score and run the point. A top point guard can get you very far in College ball
Click to expand...

Agreed, but if Jordan is vastly improved and running the show, then his teammates will get better and easier shots. If that happens, both PG and DH must connect at better than a 35% rate for this team to win.
 
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