A Post-Deadline Look at the Big East: St. John's Red Storm [CasualHoya.com]

http://www.casualhoya.com/2011/5/25/2189314/a-post-deadline-look-at-the-big-east-st-johns-red-storm

St. John's was a deep, senior-laden team that finally lived up to the players' potential under first year Coach Steve Lavin. St. John's finished in fifth place in the Big East with a 12-6 record.  They finished the year with a 21-12 record and lost in the first (second) round of the NCAA tournament to Gonzaga. But you can pretty much throw all of that out the window as the Red Storm loses every single piece off of that team. Ok that's not entirely true, they do return one player off that team. That's right only one player. Steve Lavin will start from scratch next year.

Can St. John's compete in the Big East with a team of all Freshman?

Seems like a pretty dead on analysis of the team. Could finish anywhere from 6th to 14th. SJU is a very hard team to predict this season. I'm sure the team will have lots of ups and downs but overall should be a fun and exciting season.

Pretty good, but the writer is underestimating the skill of some of these players.  Harkless has a nice midrange as well as long range game and a very nice skill set.  Jakarr has a much, much better handle than he's being credited for.  Not many at his height that have his handle and first step to the basket.  Finally, all of our guards have better PG skills than we've had overall in the past.  Last year Hardy who is really a SG as well, manned the point.  Lindsey has played point for quite a while already and isn't starting from scratch.  The writer also mentions defense issues, but those are problems most kids have coming in. In the article, the weaknesses being mentioned and some of the strengths left out.  There will be quite a few areas that we are improved from last years team as well, like team speed, depth, shot blocking, rebounding and likely overall scoring ability.

Pretty good, but the writer is underestimating the skill of some of these players.  Harkless has a nice midrange as well as long range game and a very nice skill set.  Jakarr has a much, much better handle than he's being credited for.  Not many at his height that have his handle and first step to the basket.  Finally, all of our guards have better PG skills than we've had overall in the past.  Last year Hardy who is really a SG as well, manned the point.  Lindsey has played point for quite a while already and isn't starting from scratch.  The writer also mentions defense issues, but those are problems most kids have coming in. In the article, the weaknesses being mentioned and some of the strengths left out.  There will be quite a few areas that we are improved from last years team as well, like team speed, depth, shot blocking, rebounding and likely overall scoring ability.

Exactly, MCN!  An accurate, but also inaccurate overview of our upcoming squad.  Our guys seem like they have a chip on their shoulders and could be the motivation they need to succeed (even, as early as next season).  It should be fun.