St. Joseph's Hawks

Date/Time: Saturday January 25th @ 4:00 PM at The Charles E. Smith Center in Washington DC.
Record Last Year: 14-19, 6-12 (T-10th in Atlantic 10)
Preseason Ranks: 216th (KenPom), 270th (Bart Torvik) 227th (Sports Illustrated), 263rd (CBS)
Projected Record: 8-23, 4-14 (T-13th in Atlantic 10)
Postseason Last Year: None.

Coaching Record: Billy Lange, first year at St. Joe's. Previously went 93-114 (42-56 in conference) in seven seasons at Navy with no postseason appearances. He has spent quite a bit of time in the Philadelphia area as an assistant, with stints at La Salle and Villanova, as well as the 76ers at the NBA level.

All Time Record: 27-35, although we have come out on top the last two seasons. In last year's conference opener, we were victorious 70-56 on the road. Terry led the way with a double double (23 points, 12 rebounds) with three made threes and an impressive 10-12 shooting at the foul line. I believe he might have won A10 player of the week with that performance. Justin added a balanced stat line of 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Maceo had one of his best rebounding performances with 8 boards to go with 12 points on some inefficient shooting, and Juice added 10 points off the bench (hope he can get back soon!).

Offensive Efficiency: 188th (KenPom), 177th (Bart Torvik)
Defensive Efficiency: 297th (KenPom), 282nd (Bart Torvik)
Tempo: 26th (KenPom), 22nd (Bart Torvik). The Hawks play by far the fastest pace in the A10. If the UMass game was any indication, a major key to this game will be slowing things down a tad and playing at our speed.

Key Returning Players:
Taylor Funk (JR; Lancaster, PA) 8.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg; 38% FG, 31% 3-pt, 73% FT
      Last year against us: 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists; 4-10 FG, 1-6 3-pt, 2-2 FT in 30 minutes.

Key Losses:
Charlie Brown Jr. (Left Early for Pro Career; Philadelphia, PA) 19 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg; 43% FG, 36% 3-pt, 85% FT. Brown is now teammates with fellow St. Joe's alum DeAndre' Bembry. Treveon Graham from VCU is also on that team. The Hawks definitely love to recruit from the A10. Tyler also played there for a season and even started a game once for them against Cleveland.

LaMarr 'Fresh' Kimble (Transferred to Louisville; Philadelphia, PA) 15.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.8 apg; 40% FG, 29% 3-pt, 78% FT
Jared Bynum (Transferred to Providence; Largo, MD) 11.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 4.5 apg; 42% FG, 34% 3-pt, 69% FT
Chris Clover (Graduated; Philadelphia, PA) 8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg; 43% FG, 33% 3-pt, 75% FT

Comments:
Of all the coaching changes that took place last offseason, the firing of Phil Martelli definitely ranks up there as among the most surprising, at least for me (SJU fans probably feel differently). Off the court, he struck me as just a good guy, and reading pieces like this is sad after the firing happened. He along with Jameer also weighed in on the sad Delonte West situation.

No team has had worse luck when it comes to injuries as St. Joe's the past few years, and unfortunately that ended up costing Martelli his job. I found him to a pretty good recruiter during his long tenure (the number of 3 star players he landed that ended up going pro was amazing) and was a decent enough coach. All things considered, I think he deserved one more year to prove himself. Whether that would have had more guys on the team stay on, we'll never know but I guess the new administration felt it was time to move on.

After rumors of Jameer Nelson taking over as coach never came true (leading to some slight resentment from him, and ultimately his son decommitting and coming here) and JC not taking the job despite St. Joe's showing some interest, Billy Lange ultimately got the job. I wasn't sold on the hire based on his track record at Navy (although it's not really an easy place to win at relative to the league, and he did usually finish top half of the conference). Nathan Davis seemed more proven from Bucknell, but maybe there was no interest there (I also thought he could be an option here). It does help that Lange has spent some time under Jay Wright at Villanova (and time with the 76ers in the NBA) which can only be a good thing for his growth as a coach. Ashley Howard at nearby La Salle has shown some promise, and both Philly schools are hoping former Villanova assistants can get them back competing near the top of the league.

With the number of departures, the cupboard was destined to be bare in Lange's inaugural season. He did well to land some transfers for this year and next, so Joe's should be a bit more competitive next season. The leading scorer for the Hawks this season, Ryan Daly, is also a transfer (coming from Delaware) but was actually recruited by Martelli. Credit Lange for hanging on to him, because he is one of the most fun players to watch in the league. ESPN ranked him as a one star prospect - all the more reason not to always put so much stock into HS rankings. This shot he made against Davidson to send the game to overtime might be the shot of the year in college basketball, although the Hawks ultimately dropped the contest. Daly is their only player averaging double figures (19.4 ppg), and if we can limit his production, we will have a good chance to win. He is the heart of their team, leading the team in rebounds (7.8), assists (4.2), and steals (1.1). He is also tied for the team lead in made threes (32), but shoots it at a pedestrian 31%.

Unfortunately, the Hawks leading returning scorer Funk has been sidelined with a right hand injury indefinitely and hasn't played since November, a big blow as he can get hot shooting from distance. UCF transfer Myles Douglas and redshirt junior from Illinois Lorenzo Edwards have stepped up in his absence. Douglas (a player we showed interest in this offseason) is the better shooter from distance at 33% and is also the best free throw shooter on the team at 87% (the one guy we can't foul late should the game be close). Edwards provides more in terms of rebounding (6 per game - second on the team) but overall neither of these guys are plus defenders and are pretty inefficient since they have to take on a high usage role by default on a limited roster. Since we are talking about guys up front, I'll also throw in junior Canadian Anthony Longpré, a former GW target. Longpré is an x-factor for St. Joe's in a lot of ways - he provides some key scoring and rebounding, but is actually their three point shooter at 36%, an interesting dimension as he stands at 6'10". Chase and Arnaldo will have to be better about contesting along the perimeter, because I don't want to see us lose because this guy was raining threes on us. He only averages just over two attempts a game from distance, but still he'll let it fly if he gets space to operate.

Naturally with a thin roster, Lange has depended on his freshman class right away to make an impact. Local DC product Cameron Brown (who I believe took a visit here soon after JC was hired) is their second leading scorer with Funk out. Brown is having a decent freshman year shooting the ball (40% from the floor, 33% from distance) but has struggled at the line - he's just 57% on the year which isn't good for a guard. He is more of an off-ball guard who does a decent job on the boards. Rahmir Moore is a bit better from the line (69%) but gives the team less rebounding than Brown. He is a fine enough shooter from distance (has converted a third of his attempts) but his efficiency has similarly been hampered by high usage (38% overall, which is actually the team average). He is one of the better defenders for the Hawks, but that isn't saying a lot because SJU is a terrible defensive team. Chereef Knox is the most inefficient of the three freshmen, shooting sub 30% both from the field and three. He will get some points by default on this team. He is slightly better at the line (67%) so as long as we aren't sending him to the line, I'm fine with how we'll play him.

The remainder of the rotation will consist of senior (and former walk-on) Toliver Freeman, Maine transfer Dennis Ashley III, and senior walk-on Greg Smith. Freeman has shot an efficient 51% from the floor which would lead the team quite easily, but he doesn't usually take too many shots. He is okay from three as well, but his numbers don't really stand out too much and he's just 53% from the line. Ashley gives some of their other guys breathers. He wasn't an impact player at Maine (he's originally from LA, talk about going from one corner of the country to the other) and he's shooting under 30% in all categories in limited time. Smith (surprised he didn't get a scholarship in his last year given the availability of scholarships) might spend a few minutes on the floor, but is a typical walk-on.

It seems like we've struggled more against teams with better defenses, and St. Joe's definitely doesn't have a good defense. I think that could work in our favor, and hopefully the home cooking can get us back in the win column. Minus Daly, SJU doesn't seem very threatening. Their win against UConn earlier in the season shows that they can win some games getting hot shooting, but hopefully we don't let that happen. After the loss against Fordham, I think JC gets the guys focused and ready to play tomorrow afternoon. JNJ will get a lot of attention, and hopefully he plays in control. I know he will have had this game circled on the calendar.

Predicted Score: GW 76, St. Joe's 72. 66% chance to win (Bart Torvik). ESPN gives us a 75.1% chance to get the W.
 

The line...GW -6 (sung to the tune of "I Won't Get Fooled Again".)

Go GW!

St Joes is terrible, this is a game we have to have after the turd we laid in the Bronx.

Also, IMO, after perusing the Hawk Hill bbs after learning about JNJ, I believe that most St Joes fan were happy to see Phil go because of his age and the lack of finality hurting recruiting. He'd have really mediocre teams but then would have a pretty good to great year every handful of years and when you got that going on with a lifetime coach like Martelli, that is a tough spot to put a program in.

Cutting Martelli loose allowed SJU fans to focus on the future and they weren't able to do that with Phil in charge.

Alum '04 wrote:

St Joes is terrible, this is a game we have to have after the turd we laid in the Bronx.

Also, IMO, after perusing the Hawk Hill bbs after learning about JNJ, I believe that most St Joes fan were happy to see Phil go because of his age and the lack of finality hurting recruiting. He'd have really mediocre teams but then would have a pretty good to great year every handful of years and when you got that going on with a lifetime coach like Martelli, that is a tough spot to put a program in.

Cutting Martelli loose allowed SJU fans to focus on the future and they weren't able to do that with Phil in charge.

I hate defending Martelli but he also had .a string of really bad luck with injuries to key players the last couple of years which really deflated things.

Throwing different defenders against their leading scorer Daley.  Maceo, Amir, Battle and Mezzie all guarded him, with decent success so far.

Bravo!  Great all around performance.  Kinda surprised we didn't see any of the walk-ons get a few seconds there at the end.

Nice win!!!

What a great game!

Jameer, Jamison Maceo, Chase and Armel, just tremendous stuff.
Nice contributions from others, Amir etc.

Outstanding!

Fun stat of the night: Shawn had 5 assists in only 6 minutes.