Five Starting Fives

The first thing out of any experts’ or analysts’ mouth when talking about St. John’s Basketball team is versatility and depth. But except for injuries and disciplinary actions, the team saw a familiar starting 5 every game for the last two seasons – Sean Evans/ DJ Kennedy/ Paris Horne/ Malik Boothe with either Justin Burrell or Anthony Mason Jr. With a new staff – and with the graduation of Mase – will the status quo change?

Obviously, it’s more important who finishes the game rather than who starts, but its imperative to establish tempo and control of the game from the opening tip. And St. John’s often found themselves in need of a scoring boost from bench players like Dwight Hardy and Justin Brownlee; personnel changes could spark better starts.

With that in mind, here is a look at five different starting lineups for St. John’s.

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Traditional
Does this look familiar? This was your 2008-2009 starting lineup and pre-Anthony Mason Jr. lineup in 2009-2010. This lineup probably offers the most familiarity, as this unit has been together for three full seasons. This lineup might offer the most consistency however that consistency has been average at best. This lineup is solid defensively, but has the tendency to be stagnant offensively. Can the new staff get turnovers and fastbreak opportunities with this group? Can they create in the halfcourt? Can they get players besides Horne and Kennedy involved early?

Big

Where’s the beef? Dele Coker and Sean Evans are two bruisers that will establish tempo by controlling the glass and clogging the lane. Having Brownlee and DJ Kennedy on the wings adds serious length on the perimeter. The pitfall to this lineup is it limits the greatest strength of this team and that’s speed. I don’t think we’ll be seeing this lineup combo much, but I’d like to see it purely out of curiosity. Could this be a stifling defensive/ rebounding unit? Can this big unit defend in the man-to-man?

Small
Even when St. John’s decides to go small they will still have length. Justin Burrell and Justin Brownlee are 6’7-6’8 and can run and finish in transition. I think Georgetown fans may remember that the best as both Burrell and Brownlee had Top 10 plays on Sportscenter. This unit puts DJ and Dwight Hardy together, the most dangerous (and willing to shoot) scoring options the Red Storm have to offer. But questions about defense and rebounding could arise without Paris and Sean on the court.

Shooters
St. John’s will certainly see their fair share of zone defenses, and the Red Storm have the personnel to beat it. You might be scratching your head asking why DJ Kennedy is running the point in this lineup. Well having DJ at the top of the key allows both Paris Horne and Dwight Hardy to play off the ball freeing them to come off screens. DJ is also capable of running pick and roll with either Burrell or Brownlee or shooting over the zone. The scoring ability – and perimeter shooting  – is strong with this lineup. Here, the questions are about defense, offensive flow without Boothe on the floor, and starting the offense against pressure.

Speed
This lineup is the closest to the traditional lineup but it features the freshman Dwayne Polee. While he is probably too slim to play the “5” in college in his first year, the sheer speed of this 4-guard lineup is intriguing. Brownlee, Burrell, Stith, and Evans can provide muscle off the bench to spell this energy lineup.

The possibilities are endless for Steve Lavin and staff this upcoming season. One thing is for certain that the two staples in every lineup must be both DJ Kennedy and Malik Boothe. DJ “Big Play” Kennedy is the rock of this team and Malik Boothe is the team;s best ballhandler, but he needs to play like he did at the latter part of last season. Tomorrow the WSJU Guys will debate what is the best starting five in their column, Over the Airwaves.