St. John’s Basketball: Breaking down CBB analyst Jon Rothstein’s tweets about the Red Storm

Many basketball pundits are talking about St. John’s Basketball for this upcoming season. Here are some thoughts about what one analyst has to say.

“Stay hungry, Stay humble,” those are the famous words tweeted every morning by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. This past week Rothstein made the journey from Manhattan to Queens to take in a St. John’s basketball practice that was probably #otc and more life-altering than TSA Precheck. What Rothstein said, however, may give us some early insight as to what the Red Storm can be this season.

These two things are very promising as both Justin Simon and Marvin Clark are going to be key for this upcoming season. If what Rothstein is saying is true about Simon’s improved jump shot, the Red Storm could be deadly this season. The Red Storm arguably have a lot of talent however one area where they lack is outside shots and three-pointers. Last season the Red Storm shot a dismal  32 percent from three-point land which is definitely not going to help you win a whole lot of games. The Red Storm primarily relied on taking the ball inside which worked however at times when that was not working they would fall in love with the three ball. So if Simon can be even slightly better at shooting the ball, that could help the Red storm a lot this season.

The fact that Clark looks leaner also helps as the Red Storm play a high tempo and fast-paced offense. If Clark did indeed become a bit leaner compared to last season then he could get up and down the court easier although that seemed to not be a huge problem for him last year. This would also allow him to play a lot longer and stay in better shape throughout the season which could help the Red Storm in the long run.

Another promising piece of insight from Rothstein here. Sedee Keita will most likely be the starting center this season as he has a lot of experience from South Carolina and is one of the tallest and most developed big men on the team. Keita’s ability to switch on defense will definitely be a big factor this season as the Red Storm were frequently put into mismatches on the defensive end. The whole staying out of foul trouble thing is a given as it will be hard to replace the big presence Keita has down low.

Ahh yes, another famous palpable buzz tweet from Rothstein. LJ Figueroa definitely will be one of the best players coming off the bench this season as he put up solid numbers in JUCO. The fact that he is always around that ball is also promising as the Red Storm will most likely lack a star who they can go to if Shamorie Ponds does leave after this season. So if Figueroa can prove that he can score the ball this year then he could potentially be the next star for St. John’s.

However, there is a downside to this. It was brought to my attention this week that the same amount of hype surrounded Bashir Ahmed who was also a JUCO transfer. Now it wouldn’t be fair to compare Figueroa to Ahmed as we have not seen him play yet. Ahmed wasn’t a really bad player at St. John’s, he just didn’t live up to the high expectations people had for him when he got here. Nonetheless, Figueroa is definitely a player to watch this coming season.

This has been something that I’m sure a lot of St. John’s fans can agree with. Mikey Dixon will definitely be huge for St. John’s this year as he could potentially start if Mustapha Heron is not cleared by the NCAA. Dixon’s numbers at Quinnipiac were outstanding as he proved that he could score in bunches. He is definitely going to be a key factor off the bench as Mullin will look to try and conserve Ponds’ minutes especially early in the season.

This lineup is solid except for one major spot which is the two guard position. Throwing in Figueroa as a starter is kind of head-scratcher in my opinion. Personally, I think Dixon will probably play the two-guard spot as he could have a similar role as Marcus LoVett. I get that Figueroa is good and has a lot of potential, however throwing him in right off the bat might not be the best idea if your Chris Mullin. I would love for Figueroa to prove me wrong and completely go off this season, however I also think we shouldn’t put a lot of pressure on him in his first year.

I have two disagreements with this roster. One being Figueroa at the two guard spot so I’ll skip that. The second is not having Keita. Sure Heron has a lot of height but this roster would have either him or Simon play down low which could cause a lot of mismatches. This also takes away a shot-blocking presence that the Red Storm had in Tariq Owens last year which helped them win a lot of games.

This is very promising since ponds is leaving and someone needs to step in and take his role. Greg Williams has a lot of hype surrounding him going into this season so it will be interesting to see what role he plays and how well he does this year.

These three keys are easy to agree with. Keeping Keita out of foul trouble is definitely since he’s really the only height the Red Storm have. Execution in tight situations was something that the Red Storm struggled with last season up until the game against Duke. In fact, in Mullin’s post game speech to the team he acknowledged the fact that they had been right there countless times but just couldn’t close it out. This should be their number one priority this season.

As for the subpar non-league schedule, the Red Storm dug themselves into a bit of a hole. If they want to earn a ranked position, which they easily could, they couldn’t lose more than two non-conference games. They would also obviously have to do a lot better in conference play and would have to be within the top five in the Big East standings. The Big East Tournament will also be a proving ground for them this year as they should look to make it to at least the semi-final. With all that being said, the Red Storm need to be almost perfect to make themselves a serious contender for a tournament bid in March.