{"id":119093,"date":"2020-11-24T07:20:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T04:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/st-johns-enters-season-without-obvious-top-scoring-option\/"},"modified":"2020-11-24T07:20:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T04:20:09","slug":"st-johns-enters-season-without-obvious-top-scoring-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/st-johns-enters-season-without-obvious-top-scoring-option\/","title":{"rendered":"#St. John’s enters season without obvious top scoring option"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#St. John’s enters season without obvious top scoring option<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n The givens are gone.<\/p>\n

At this time last year, Mike Anderson\u2019s task was finding a supporting cast for LJ Figueroa and Mustapha Heron. Now the job is finding players to replace the offensive production of Figueroa and Heron, the program\u2019s two leading scorers who transferred and graduated, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be different,\u201d sophomore forward Julian Champagnie told The Post in a phone interview, \u201cin the sense that we don\u2019t have somebody people think is going to be our main scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the big on-court question Anderson faces entering his second season.<\/p>\n

There are no obvious answers, with the St. John\u2019s season set to tip off Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena against St. Peter\u2019s. Champagnie, an All-Big East freshman team selection last year, could be part of the solution. So could returning senior Rasheem Dunn \u2014 the only returning double-digit scorer \u2014 and juniors Marcellus Earlington and Greg Williams Jr. There are high expectations for freshman point guard Posh Alexander and junior college All-Americans Vince Cole and Isaih Moore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no one there that can just take over a game<\/a>,\u201d one Big East coach said, speaking on condition of anonymity. \u201cIf you look at the best teams in this league, they all have one or two guys that can take a game over. It is rare that a team does it by committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Julian
Julian Champagnie<\/span>Robert Sabo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s one of the main reasons St. John\u2019s was picked to finish ninth in the Big East. It may not have a best player. Champagnie, according to sources, has been very impressive throughout the preseason, but Anderson wouldn\u2019t put him atop that perch. In a recent scrimmage, Alexander was the Johnnies\u2019 best player, with Champagnie sidelined due to a minor ankle injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends what day it is,\u201d Anderson said, when asked if he has a top player.<\/p>\n

Anderson doesn\u2019t believe he needs a go-to scorer or a star to win. His best teams, in previous coaching stops, have had several options, different avenues to attack in crunch time. Even last year, it wasn\u2019t until Williams, Earlington and Champagnie emerged with Heron out, that the Johnnies began to play their best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did that, that\u2019s when we not only were competitive,\u201d Anderson said, \u201cwe were beating teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, as St. John\u2019s won three of its last four games before the season was shut down due to COVID-19, defeating Marquette and Creighton, Figueroa played a key role. If he wasn\u2019t scoring, he was at least the focus of the opposition. Now Williams, Dunn, Earlington and Champagnie will see extra attention. They will have to be able to create offense for themselves and their teammates. Consistency will be needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really different for us, because we didn\u2019t really see a lot of that last year or any of it at all,\u201d Champagnie said. \u201cThe biggest challenge is just to stay poised. Last year we could go off because attention was directed to LJ, Mustapha and a little bit [Rasheem]. This year, it\u2019s going to be a little harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be adjustments that have to be made. Anderson believes someone will emerge, but balance and depth will be this team\u2019s strengths. The hope is St. John\u2019s will have plenty of threats, nights with several double-digit scorers, which could make it harder to prepare for. There will be mystery where the ball is going in a final-possession scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams that you play have to figure out who they\u2019re going to key in on,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cIt makes you that much more dangerous.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#St. John’s enters season without obvious top scoring option” The givens are gone. At this time last year, Mike Anderson\u2019s task was finding a supporting cast for LJ Figueroa and Mustapha Heron. Now the job is finding players to replace the offensive production of Figueroa and Heron, the program\u2019s two leading scorers who transferred and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/mike-anderson-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[81100,81251,77572,81252,72027],"class_list":["post-119093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-23-20","tag-julian-champagnie","tag-mike-anderson","tag-rasheem-dunn","tag-st-johns-red-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}