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St. John’s Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Red Storm

By Benjamin Zacher

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 01: A general view during the game between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays at Carnesecca Arena on March 01, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 01: A general view during the game between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays at Carnesecca Arena on March 01, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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St. John’s Basketball Rasheem Dunn Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports /

Starters

Leading scorer LJ Figueroa is gone, having transferred to Oregon over the summer.  Thankfully, for Anderson and his staff, the Red Storm have the luxury of returning numerous players who have all had experience in the starting lineup this past season.

Rasheem Dunn – the team’s returning leading scorer – will resume his position as the floor general.  Dunn earned the starting role in mid-January and never relinquished it, averaging 11.9 points per game and tying for a team-high 100 assists.  A transfer from Cleveland State, Dunn finished ninth in the Big East in assists per game at 1.8 and is used to the big stage, having scored a season-high 24 points against Villanova.

After starting the final 10 games of last season, Greg Williams, Jr. will continue his role as shooting guard.  He will have to up his average from last season, which finished at 5.7 points per game, but there is optimism after he averaged 12.8 points on 48.9% shooting across the last five games.  In that stretch – despite shooting 34% for the season on three’s – he drilled 50% of his shots from beyond the arc.

Small forward is the most difficult position to figure out – it was where Figueroa dominated in all 32 games last season. Because he also played all 32 games while starting in three, I will give the nod to David Caraher here. Caraher averaged 14.7 minutes per game, amassing 4.3 points per game on a 40% shooting clip. This will most likely be a spot taken by someone else by season’s end, but Caraher’s experience gives him the edge here for opening day.

Power forward will be determined by Josh Roberts’s status.  Roberts was the premier power forward for much of last season, starting in 28 games and shooting a team-high 54%.  A late-season shoulder injury sidelined him, however, and Marcellus Earlington took over his responsibilities.

Despite only receiving 18.2 minutes a game for the season, Earlington did well, averaging 9 points and hauling down 151 boards.  And, while Roberts led the team in field goal percentage, Earlington was right behind, with a second-best 46%.

With Roberts still, presumably, recuperating from his shoulder injury – which, given an article by our colleague Kevin Connelly over at Storm the Paint on how ripped Roberts has become during quarantine, probably will not be very long – Earlington should have the start when the season gets underway, at least until Roberts is able to work himself back into action.

Expect Julian Champagnie to return at center, particularly if Roberts does not immediately find himself in the starting line-up.  After Dunn, Champagnie is the team’s next returning leading scorer at 9.9 points per game.  This is a team with reliable posts – after Roberts and Earlington, Champagnie was the team’s third highest-percentage shooter, drilling 45% of his shots.

St. John’s – much like last season – will have the opportunity to mix and match throughout the course of the season.  Again, nine different players started for the Johnnies last year, and that number could be matched – if not surpassed – this season.  These starting line-ups will fluctuate throughout the season, so it is difficult to predict just who Anderson and his staff will go with night after night.