Ambiance: The Scorpions, Rock You Like a Hurricane (video)
While many less-enlightened people will be deep in slumber on Monday night/ Tuesday morning, resting to wake up for work or for school or to work on their art or their hustle, St. John’s basketball will tip-off what could be one the the Red Storm’s most exciting seasons. The team travels to Bay Area suburb Moraga to play the tough St. Mary’s Gaels of the West Coast conference, who have won more than 80% of their games at home.
Maybe in five or ten years, this game won’t mean as much; maybe it will be a blip, or better yet, what looks in retrospect to be a foregone conclusion given the Red Storm’s national cred (in ten years).
But right now, the die-hards are adjusting their internal clocks. The west coast Johnny fans are looking into tickets. So many people are excited for a resurgence of the team from that school on Union and Utopia, for a re-emergence of New York’s Team.
The added bonus? The game is nationally televised as part of ESPN’s hoops marathon. And against a team that rolled into the Sweet Sixteen last year, a team that returns most of the starters from their run. St. Mary’s has one official game under their belt, against NAIA squad, College of Idaho. Perhaps the Gaels couldn’t get/ pay for a Division-I team to come to Moraga to take a guarantee game beating.
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Team Reviews
St. Mary’s (1-0)
box score totals from Friday’s game vs. College of Idaho
11 Clint Steindl F 6’7 195 JR 20 pts, 6-14 3PT, 1-1 2 PT
09-10: 23.8 mpg, 6.9 ppg, 37.7% 3PT
22 Rob Jones F 6’6 240 JR 11 pts, 5 reb (4 offensive), 5 FT attempted
08-09 San Diego: 26.7 mpg, 9.5 ppg, 46.6% FG, 5.5 rpg
30 Kenton Walker II F 6’9 240 JR 14 pts, 6 reb (3 offensive), 2 blk
08-09 Creighton: 15 mpg, 5.1 ppg, 54.9% FG, 3.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg
14 Stephen Holt G 6’4 195 FR 9 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 9 stl
09-10: HIGH SCHOOL
32 Mickey McConnell G 6’0 190 SR 6 pts, 8 ast
09-10: 36 mpg, 13.7 ppg, 51% 3PT, 5 apg, 1.5 spg
Bench
1 Jorden Page G 6’1 180 SO 21 mins, 3 pts
09-10: 16.1 mpg, 3.7 ppg, 33% 3PT
3 Mitchell Young F 6’9 235 SO 17 mins, 10 pts, 8 reb (3 offensive)
09-10: 13.5 mpg, 3.9 ppg, 51% FG, 2.8 rpg
4 Matthew Dellavedova 6’4 190 SO 20 mins, 4 pts
09-10: 36.4 mpg, 12.1 ppg, 39.8% 3PT, 4.5 apg, 3.5 rpg
25 Tim Williams 6’9 235 SO 16 mins, 5 reb (3 off)
09-10: 5.6 mpg, 2.6 ppg, 69.8% FG, 1.8 rpg
Last year’s Gaels beat Richmond and Villanova on the way to the Sweet Sixteen, where they were run over by the height and shot-making of Baylor. St. Mary’s will move their bigs around, space the floor well, and look for jump shots; Lavin’s comment about them being a European-style team is on the money (including the occasional shady “tricks” and screens with extra elbow). On defense, the most impressive thing they do is keep opponents out of the lane, especially on individual drives. They don’t often jump the passing lanes; they play back and dare opponents to shoot jump shots.
Last year, they were an efficient team, playing off of 6’11 Omar Samhan, who was a true dominator in the post. The Gaels also lose 6’11 Ben Allen from the starting lineup; he was more of a complementary player, but rebounded extremely well while stretching the defense (no easy feat).
Take that in for a second. McConnell nailed threes like an average post player hits shot jumpers and layups. McConnell also was quick with the ball, was an excellent point guard, and shot 50% from two-point territory (where he took a few more shots). He is not just a spot up shooter; he has some flair to his game.
Dellavedova has been coming back from a hamstring injury and was limited to 20 minutes in their opening game. In his place, touted freshman Stephen Holt got the start and recorded 9 steals. Also on the bench is Jorden Page, who showed a nice deep stroke. Stopping the team from getting hot will involve keeping them off balance, and a team effort to minimize open looks.
Up front, the Gaels replace Allen and Samhan with a pair of transfers and a returning starter. The transfers, Kenton Walker II from Creighton and Rob Jones from the University of San Diego, are fairly big and should be good rebounders. They may not be Samhan, and there may be more opportunities for second shots for the Johnnies. The team fed the post players a number of shots in their first game, so the Gaels may look to work inside-out, as they did last year. Note that Rob Jones took
Clint Steindl is the other starter, a 6’7 shooter who focused on his outside shot (138 shots from beyond the arc; 50 shots inside the arc). Friday’s game saw him try 14 shots form the perimeter and 1 shot inside the line. Know that he is a crafty player and will cut to the basket. Also on the bench are forwards Mitchell Young and Tim Williams, a pair of big post players.
St. John’s (0-0)
00 Dwayne Polee II F 6’7 193 FR
32 Justin Brownlee F 6’7 219 SR
1 DJ Kennedy G/F 6’5 214 SR
12 Dwight Hardy SG 6’2 196 SR
3 Malik Boothe PG 5’9 184 SR
Bench
23 Paris Horne G 6’3 189 SR
5 Sean Evans F 6’8 259 SR
24 Justin Burrell F 6’8 244 SR
15 Dele Coker C 6’10 257 SR
31 Malik Stith G 5’11 184 SO
10 Quincy Roberts G 6’5 196 SO
Things we know about St. John’s this fall: they will play some different defenses. The rotations will be different. They will emphasize speed. Will this add up to more efficiency on offense and constant control on defense? Does this mean we can throw our preconceptions about the seniors out the window?
Hard to say; players don’t become entirely different over a summer, especially when they are seniors. The Red Storm functioned as a better offensive unit near the end of last year for stretches, though some teams still ran over the squad. At the very least, we will see a lot more attack on both sides of the ball; and when the Johnnies got to run on an opponent, they had some success.
Keys to the Game
Communicate. St. Mary’s could be very unpredictable at this point in the season; they’re working in two forwards, along with a touted freshman with talent. The team could look to stroke from the perimeter, or look to go inside first and then shoot when defenders are sagging in. No one quite knows. So the team needs to communicate around screens, communicate for help, be vocal on defense. Stay in sync and keep the eyes open for the main shooters and who’s cutting to the basket.
Show the Forwards They’re in the Big Leagues. The Gaels have height. And St. John’s starting lineup from the exhibition game is fairly small, even with Brownlee’s strength. St. John’s will need all the chances they can get, and can’t give up second shots to a team that can shoot from the outside as well as the Gaels. If St. John’s can make the interior players miss, that will put pressure on the Gaels to shoot extremely well.
Stop the 3-Point Shooters. Despite their gaudy stats (and solid performances in the NCAA Tournament) there have been games where McConnell has barely been able to get a shot off, and the Gaels looked inside for their shots. Conveniently, one game where that occurred was last December’s matchup against the Oregon Ducks, where a fellow named Mike Dunlap roamed the sidelines as an assistant. I hear he knows a little bit about basketball. The key may be to keep those shooters off-balance, rushed, never squared up and stepping into their shots; they need to be forced to either give up the ball or take long 2-pointers, if possible. For McConnell, especially, his range is somewhere inside the halfcourt line.
Score. Preferably in transition. There will be room in the halfcourt to get shots off, but St. Mary’s packs the paint very well, forcing 2-point jump shots… which are much less effective than layups and dunks. There are enough shooters on the Gaels that even with a very good defensive performance, St. John’s will need to put up points.
Win the Turnover Battle. At the very least, St. John’s can’t force passes/ drives and lose the ball.
Prediction: Going BOLD on this one: 71-68, St. John’s.