Saint Joseph’s Basketball: What to expect from Hawks for 2020-21 season?

Saint Joseph’s Basketball endured their first single-digit win season in over 25 years. But with the leading scorer in the conference returning, the Hawks will look to rebound to their winning ways in 2020-21.

Billy Lange’s first year at the helm of Saint Joseph’s Basketball was nothing short of a disappointment for Hawks fans, but with the leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 set to make his return for one last go-around, all eyes will be on the Hawks to return to prosperity.

Let me state this before anything else: winning in the Atlantic 10 last season was an incredibly difficult feat.  It is every year, as one of the best non-P5 conferences in the country, but this past year was expedited courtesy of Obi Toppin and the Dayton Flyers who were, arguably, the best team in all of college basketball.  Richmond, Rhode Island, Saint Louis, and Duquesne all won more than 20 games each, as well.

To put this into greater perspective, nine of the 14 teams in the A10 finished with overall records over .500.  La Salle was at exactly .500.  Only UMass, George Washington, Fordham, and Saint Joseph’s ended the 2019-20 season with losing records, with the latter two being the only A10 teams to finish with less than ten wins.

For Saint Joseph’s, this is uncharted territory, at least in the last 25 years. The Hawks have enjoyed incredible success since 1995 with Phil Martelli at the helm, including seven NCAA tournament appearances and six NIT berths.  He has been four-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and nearly reached the Final Four in 2004, reaching the Elite Eight as a number-one seed before falling to Oklahoma State by just two points.

While the Hawks endured losing seasons under Martelli, they never experienced a year where they won just single-digit games. But, after a 14-19 year in 2018-19, the Saint Joseph’s administration made the controversial decision to fire Martelli, which was followed by the odd choice to hire former Navy head coach and Philadelphia 76ers lead assistant Billy Lange.

Calling the decision “odd” is not a knock against Lange – he has more than put in his fair share of work in coaching basketball.  He got his start at Philadelphia University under Herb Magee, one of the all-time winningest coaches in college basketball history, had two really solid years as the head coach at U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, and was once named Patriot League Coach of the Year while at Navy.

But that pedigree is where Lange’s resume ends, particularly once you consider his record at Navy.  In seven seasons at Navy, Lange had two winning years – 16-14 and 19-11 in back-to-back seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09 – with five seasons trapped around the 11-win mark.  He finished his career with a 93-114 mark before leaving to accept a job as the associate head coach at Villanova.

After a six-year stint with the 76ers, Lange accepted the gig at Saint Joseph’s, where he led the Hawks to a 6-26 overall record.  For context, Martelli’s worst seasons were 11-win seasons.  Again, none of this is meant to establish that Lange is a bad head coach, particularly considering his pedigree at the collegiate and professional levels, but it is meant to insinuate that he has yet to prove himself as a head coach, especially at an institution that has enjoyed as much prestigious success as Saint Joseph’s.

For what it is worth, there is a lot to be optimistic about regarding those six wins.  Five of those wins came against squads with winning records, including NCAA tournament qualifier Bradley, an exceptionally solid UConn team, one of the top teams in the A10 in St. Bonaventure, and William & Mary, home to one of the best mid-major players in America in Nathan Knight.

Saint Joseph Basketball roster outlook

There is also another key reason to be hopeful about Saint Joseph’s: senior Ryan Daly.  A former star at the University of Delaware before transferring to Saint Joseph’s, Daly was not only the leading scorer for the Hawks last season, but the top scorer in the Atlantic 10 at 20.6 points per game, .06 more than National Player of the Year recipient Obi Toppin.

Not only that, but the Hawks return their top five leading scorers – alongside Daly, the team welcomes back Cameron Brown, Taylor Funk, Myles Douglas, and Rahmir Moore – all players who averaged 6.9 points, or more, per game.  Saint Joseph’s have also announced at least four members of the incoming class of 2020-21 in Anton Jansson, Jordan Hall, Jadrian Tracey, and Jack Forrest.

While Forrest will be required to sit out the year after transferring from Columbia, all eyes will be on Jansson, Hall, and Tracey to step up and complement Daly.  The team also brings in Xavier transfer Dahmir Bishop and Gonzaga transfer Greg Foster, Jr.  Both are eligible after sitting out last season due to transfer rules.

Tracey, especially, will be the incomer to watch out for and to keep high expectations of heading into the future.  At West Oak Academy, on a roster filled with six high-major Division I recruits, Tracey averaged 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game, scoring 19 in the 2020 Florida State championship game.  He is used to being in the spotlight and will be looked towards to rise to the occasion of supporting, and eventually replacing, Daly.

Again, winning in the Atlantic 10 has traditionally been difficult.  More often than not, the top teams in the conference turn out to be top-25 programs in the nation throughout the year – last season’s Dayton squad is the greatest example.

However, with Obi Toppin gone, the A10 has already become a more interesting affair than last year, and a host of schools – namely, Saint Louis and Richmond – are expected to make a jump.  With the leading scorer in the conference returning for one last attempt, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks have an opportunity to join that club of teams.

Although Lange’s coaching has yet to translate to many winning seasons on the floor, the victories captured by the Hawks last year speak for themselves.  This is clearly a team with talent that can take down some of the highest mid-major squads in Div. I and they are very well capable of competing with some of the top teams in the A10.

With Daly again leading the way on the floor, Lange providing a full-fledged recruiting class, and nearly the entire supporting crew returning, the Saint Joseph’s Hawks will undoubtedly be a tough outing for any team.

Whether they can finally connect the pieces and string together a consistent streak of wins both in and out of conference has yet to be seen, and pressure will be on Lange to prove himself at such a prestigious institution, but there is every reason to believe that the Hawks should take the next step forward and return to their winning ways.