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St. John’s Red Storm: The Case for Dom Pointer as Big East Player of the Year

By Chris Godfrey

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The St. John’s Red Storm may be a middling team in the Big East Conference, but their forward Sir’Dominic Pointer has been incredible, warranting consideration for the Big East Player of the Year Award.

The “new” Big East conference is quickly nearing the end of its second season of existence, and despite a mass exodus of prestigious programs, the conference has still managed to keep a foothold near the top of the college basketball mountain. At the moment, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi predicts that six teams from the conference will dance in the NCAA Tournament. At one point, eight of the conference’s ten teams all found themselves in Lunardi’s projection. Even without the likes of traditional conference powers such as Syracuse, Pitt, and UConn, the Big East has proven to be formidable. This means that the distinction of Big East Player of the Year still remains a symbol of excellence in college basketball.

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At the beginning of this season, the St. John’s Red Storm looked to have three legitimate contenders for the conference’s highest honor. The front-runner for the award was the team’s leader and top scoring option, D’Angelo Harrison. Harrison was a preseason first-team All-Big East selection. At the moment, he stands as the third leading scorer in the history of the program. In addition to Big East honors, he was also included on the preseason Wooden Watch. Junior Chris Obekpa, one of the nation’s best defenders, and super sophomore Rysheed Jordan also joined Harrison in receiving Big East preseason honors.

There’s no surprise that at the end of February, a member of the Red Storm has emerged as a leading player of the year contender. However, the name of that player isn’t one of those mentioned above. Fans who have followed the Big East this year has become very familiar with the regal and unique name of Red Storm swingman Sir’Dominic Pointer.

Full Disclosure: Dom is from Detroit, Michigan (my hometown). He attends St. John’s University (my alma mater). If Pointer decided to play the remainder of the Big East schedule dressed as the San Diego Chicken, I’d still continue to stand behind him frantically waving my Big East Player of the Year vote that I don’t actually have. Don’t get lost in my hype, though. This kid’s numbers speak louder than my opinion. See for yourself. 

The image of Dom Pointer streaking through Big East gyms should be a familiar sight to fans of the conference. He’s been a solid contributor on both ends of the floor for Steve Lavin’s Red Storm during all four of his year’s on campus, but this season’s output has charted on an unforeseen level of excellence. After a slow start that saw his team near the bottom of the conference standings at 3-6, Pointer took his usual role of defender and opportunistic finisher to another level — and the Red Storm haven’t looked back, currently sitting at 8-7 in the conference (19-9 overall).

Watching Pointer’s star-turn after three and a half seasons of anonymous dirty work has been an intriguing journey. Technically, Pointer is still a role-player. The Red Storm offense continues to run through Harrison and Jordan, and though Pointer plays the part of an undersized 4-man, Coach Lav isn’t designing post touches for Pointer either. Despite his supporting role in the offense, he’s established himself as a consistent scene-stealer (subtle nod to the Oscar’s there, stay with me), and it’s beginning to look as if he’s stolen the entire show. Take a look at how Pointer’s numbers stack up against the rest of the conference…

  • Field Goal Percentage: .536 (1st)
  • 2-point Field Goals Made: 146 (1st)
  • Win Shares: 4.7 (1st)
  • Defensive Win Shares: 2.7 (1st)
  • Player Efficiency Rating: 25.6 (2nd)
  • Blocks/BPG: 72/2.6 (2nd/3rd) 
  • Steals/SPG: 57/2.0 (3rd)
  •  Rebounds/RPG: 212/7.6 (4th)
  • Points/PPG: 382/13.6 (8th/9th)

A simple glance at the numbers makes it hard to ignore Pointer’s status as the most dynamic player in the conference. He’s the league’s most efficient volume scorer, which is especially impressive when considering the unlikelihood of a 54% shooter playing Pointer’s game of challenging drives to the basket and difficult hanging jump shots. To the naked eye, Pointer leaves a lot to be desired as an offensive player, but his work ethic skews his statistics high in every category. His two legitimate scoring talents are an excellent touch around the basket and jaw dropping athleticism, traits that he uses to their maximum potential in a fast-paced transition-reliant offense.

On defense, Pointer passes the looks test just as well as he marks up the stat book. His highlight package of dynamic blocks and deftly executed pickpockets has solidified a reputation as one of the country’s best defenders. Pointer teams with Chris Obekpa to create the most feared front line in the country not playing for John Calipari. Remember that Pointer is generously listed at 6’6 in your program. He’s essentially the size of your average shooting guard. Despite his physical disadvantages, Pointer has recorded six games with four blocks or more, and five games with four steals or more. He’s even jumped center at times for the Red Storm, logging double-digit rebounds on eight different occasions.

His league-leading numbers in both defensive and overall win-shares show quantitative evidence of Pointer’s dominance as a defender. All five opposing players are forced to play in fear of his timing and athleticism. His ability to stifle perimeter players while simultaneously influencing shots on the low block allows the Johnnies to play defense six-on-five in terms of coverage and assignment, as exhibited by this eight-block performance against Creighton.

Pointer is clearly the x-factor that has taken the Johnnies from being a likely NIT team searching for a new head coach, to a team excited to make waves during March Madness. However, there is one other player in the Big East whose body of work challenges Pointer for top honors. Providence’s LaDontae Hinton has taken the conference by storm in a more traditional manner — scoring a boatload of points. Hinton’s most impressive output, a 38-point out-of-body experience against Notre Dame, isn’t supposed to count towards Big East awards consideration, but it’s hard to forget one of the season’s top individual performances (especially since Providence/Notre Dame sounds like it’s still a Big East game anyway). Hinton has been the league’s best offensive player, replicating Pointer’s Swiss army approach to defense on the offensive end. So why does Pointer get the nod over Hinton? I’m glad you asked.

  • Head to Head: In a race this close, it’s relevant to evaluate how the two players fared against each other. Pointer’s Red Storm beat Providence at home and away this year. Hinton, who leads the conference with over 20 points per game, averaged just under 18 in two meetings with St. John’s while being guarded by Pointer for long stretches of both contests. During the two games he spent hounded by Pointer, Hinton shot well under 40% from the field. Pointer’s scoring number against Providence shot up to 19 points when averaged between the two outings.
  • The Green Light: Providence lives and dies on the performances of Hinton. Offensively, he is a viable example of a player who possesses the oft-mentioned “green light” in college basketball. Hinton can shoot from wherever he wants, whenever he wants. It’s a luxury that allows talented players to produce gaudy stat lines. Pointer lacks similar allowances in Queens. If the green light is a license to shoot, then D’Angelo Harrison is the Green Lantern. Rysheed Jordan also operates on a long leash offensively. It could be argued that based on shot distribution, Pointer’s points per game number cancels out Hinton’s. The point differential between Hinton and Pointer this season is 60 points, but the shot disparity is 148 attempts.
  • Two-Way Player: While Hinton holds his own on defense, he possesses none of the game-changing abilities that Dom brings to the gym on a nightly basis. If the old adage of defense winning championships is a true statement, Dom Pointer trumps the entire league by a significant margin. No player in the conference has offered bigger contributions in both facets of the game.

The events leading up to this point have been astonishing. Early in the season, Pointer was an under the radar contributor for a team ranked in the top 15 nationally. By the season’s midway point, he was looked at as “part of the problem” due to his offensive deficiencies (also known as the adventure that is a Dom Pointer three point attempt). Now, Pointer is firmly in the spotlight, seizing the role of x-factor for a team that many expect to be dangerous in March. It’s been a long journey, but the culmination of Pointer’s travels should end with him being recognized as the best player in the Big East.

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