Guest Contributor Ray Floriani -- At the Holiday Festival

by Ray Floriani

New York City - The format of the MSG Holiday Festival went through another alteration. Up until a few years ago it was contested just after Christmas. Since then it has been before December 25th and this season was not a true tournament. No semifinal and final doubleheader -- just a twin bill -- this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The Holiday Festival logo

The scores:

Rutgers	67		58	Stony Brook
St. John's	56		50	Fordham

Possession and efficiency:

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Stony Brook	66	88
Rutgers	63	106

View of MSG

		Off.
	Poss.	Eff.
Fordham	68	73
St. John's	68	83

Notes & Points of Emphasis
1. Rutgers was tested.
The American East representatives, Stony Brook worked hard on the offensive glass showing a 46-32% edge in offensive rebounding percentage. Rutgers coach Mike Rice pointed out , partially in jest, that his Scarlet Knights (6-5) had too much holiday spirit and were willing to give up second chances to the Seawolves. Stony Brook did not have an easy time finishing those opportunities showing only a 13-9 lead in second chance points. Stony Brook (3-6) basically lived on the perimeter and shot better from three (7 of 24 for 29%) than from two (9 of 36 and 25%). Rutgers shot 56% from two en route to a 54% eFG mark. Both teams had identical and sloppy 24% TO rates. Myles Mack of Rutgers led all scorers with 22 points. The freshman guard did not start but proved the old axiom 'it is more important who finishes rather than starts the game'. Mack used 18% of the Scarlet Knight possessions and obviously was very much involved.

Rutgers coach Mike Rice feels his team was in a holiday mode
giving too many offensive rebounding 'gifts'

2. Fordham is improved
They entered MSG at 4-5. Tom Pecora is getting double figure scoring from three players, none are seniors. Junior Chris Gaston leads at 14.6 PPG while the backcourt of sophomore Branden Frazier (10.0) and freshman Devon McMillan (11.6) has been effective.

Against St. John's there were opportunities. Gaston got inside but struggled to finish. He scored 11 points, grabbed 14 rebounds (5 offensive) but was 4 of 16 from the field. Both clubs failed to hit 40% eFG with Fordham at 36% and St. John's not much better with 38%. The young Ram backcourt did a nice job caring for the ball with a 15% TO rate, compared to St. John's' 22%. Red Storm got the big and arguable game decisive advantage on the offensive glass. They showed a 42-24% dominance in offensive rebounding percentage. God's Gift Achiuwa (5) and Moe Harkness (3) accounted for half of the 16 St. John's offensive boards. Harkness, a 6-8 freshman swing man, had a nice 13 point, 16 rebound double-double.

3. St. John's has concerns
The Red Storm is now 5-5. Beyond the .500 won-lost record are other issues. The exit of Nurideen Lindsey further depletes an already thin squad. In the first half against Fordham the starters went the entire way. For the game, four players put in the full forty minutes. The only one who did not was freshman guard Sir Dominic Pointer who put in 36 minutes and spelled by Malik Stith for only 4 minutes. The biggest concerns in this situation are foul trouble -- the Storm do zone frequently to stay out of that situation -- and injuries. They can ill afford an injury to anyone. With Big East play and its physical nature, practices, plus Winter and the illnesses it can bring coming up, St. John's will be embarking on conference play in a very tenuous circumstance.

The Stony Brook band entertained
and enjoyed their MSG appearance

2010-11 Preview -- St. John's Red Storm

Too Busy for the Details?
Given much the same squad as the team entering the 2010 season, there is the temptation to simply cut and paste last season's preview, but this season there is something different...the coaching staff. Can Coach Lavin solve the 32 minute problem? For the past three seasons the Red Storm Nation has debated whether the stalled progress is due to the players (not Big East-level personnel) or the staff (not Big East-level personnel). This year we find out. I am betting it was the staff.  Prognosis -- A 2nd quartile finish.

3 Years At a Glance

	Returning...
	2011	2010	2009
%Min	89.5	93.4	64.2
%Pts	90.3	95.1	28.2
%FGM	90.8	96.7	57.7
%3FGM	92.1	97.9	26.1
%OReb	87.8	93.1	77.4
%DReb	87.5	95.2	72.4
%TReb	87.6	94.4	74.0

Coach Roberts brought in a very large freshmen class in the fall of 2007. While large entering classes were common in Queens during the Roberts Era, the class of 2011 was unusual; it stayed around (and was reasonably healthy) for more than one season. The staff added JUCOs Dwight Hardy and Justin Brownlee in 2009-10 and both return this season, giving head coach Steve Lavin a deep and experienced squad for his inaugural season.

	According to Pomeroy...
	2009-10		2008-09		2007-08
	#	Rank	#	Rank	#	Rank
Off Eff. Overall	106.2	98	100.9	181	98.0	215
eFG% Overall	47.3	238	46.2	284	45.8	313
FTA/FGA Overall	31.6	307	37.2	158	35.0	215
Pt. Dist. 3FGA Overall	25.7	207	18.7	330	25.3	256
3FGM% Overall	33.4	205	29.9	319	33.3	243
3FGA/2FGA Overall	29.5	251	24.4	328	29.0	289
Def Eff. Overall	92.8	51	96.5	77	93.2	50

The problem is not defense, as the Johnnies have consistently ranked in the top 20% nationally (or better -- see Def Eff. Overall above) in each of the past three seasons. Indeed, tough in-your-face defense was always a trademark of Norm Roberts' Red Storm squads. The offense is inside-oriented (see Pt. Dist. 3FGA in table above), though the inside/outside stat (Pomeroy's formula), at 2.13, would suggest something more balanced, a notion that is however, an illusion. Note the numbers for FTA/FGA Overall in the table above. "Inside play" almost always involves contact (and trips to the line). The Johnnies tooks a lot of 2 point field goal attempts, but they did not force the issue and get to the line from that offense. Defenses did not foul much because they knew what St. John's was going to do and when they would do it.

	For the Record...
	2009-10			2008-09			2007-08
	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
Overall	17	16	0.515	16	18	0.471	11	19	0.367
Big East	6	12	0.333	6	12	0.333	5	13	0.278
Post Season?	NIT Rnd #1			CBI Rnd #1			NA

Last season's progress was typical of the Norm Roberts teams -- small and very measured. Though the rotation went 8-10 deep with players who logged two years together, the Red Storm could not escape the conference's fourth quartile.

The Red Storm's Nucleus
Coach Steve Lavin inherits an enigma in the form of a squad from Coach Roberts. Generally recognized as talented and tough (though Doug Gottlieb, ESPN's resident contrarian would disagree -- sorry subscription), the question is whether they are collectively talented enough and skilled enough to compete and win on most nights in the Big East. While many observers contend this cohort struggled with a very loose style of game management, others (like Gottlieb) suspect it might be the players...

On Offense
Player	Min%	ORtg	Poss%	Shot%	eFG%	OR%	PPWS	FTR%
D.J. Kennedy	77.4	110.4	25.8	23.5	52.3	6.2	1.15	49.0
Paris Horne	69.3	101.1	18.4	20.9	49.1	4.8	0.99	19.4
Malik Boothe	60.3	89.9	15.3	11.7	42.3	1.5	0.95	46.3
Sean Evans	51.9	95.4	21.1	20.0	46.0	14.2	0.95	34.5
Dwight Hardy	48.1	102.4	23.7	28.0	50.6	2.2	1.06	22.8
Justin Brownlee	44.4	106.3	20.3	23.6	47.8	9.9	1.00	15.3
Justin Burrell	41.4	100.5	19.4	19.2	47.4	6.6	1.04	35.9
Malik Stith	26.3	73.2	15.3	13.6	29.0	2.5	0.64	29.0
Dele Coker	18.7	99.1	11.3	9.7	62.9	8.9	1.14	37.1

Nearly half of the squad (Kennedy, Boothe, Horne, Coker, Evans and Burrell) begin their fourth season together. Though classified as seniors, Hardy and Brownlee transferred in last season (and counter to the trend, stayed), while red shirt sophomore Quincy Roberts and (true) sophomore Malik Stith log their second year in Queens. The offense is wing/front court oriented, with DJ Kennedy taking just over 25% of the possessions (and just under 24% of the shots) when he is on the court. He is also the most efficient player on the squad. Odd because the most prolific shooter often draws the most attention from the defense and tends to be less efficient than his "overlooked" teammates. As players entering their second season with the Red Storm, Justin Brownlee and Dwight Hardy can (potentially) develop larger roles. Hardy was often brought in specifically to shoot in 2010, a role that naturally drew defensive attention (and skewed his Shot% a bit higher than it probably would have been had he logged more time). The challenge for both will be to become even more efficient with their possessions/shots.

On Defense
Player	Min%	DR%	Ast%	TO%	Stl%	Blk%
D.J. Kennedy	77.4	16.3	21.5	18.6	2.2	2.2
Paris Horne	69.3	7.7	10.9	15.2	1.3	1.8
Malik Boothe	60.3	7.8	20.9	28.0	0.4	2.3
Sean Evans	51.9	17.9	6.3	18.6	1.4	1.7
Dwight Hardy	48.1	8.0	8.7	15.5	0.3	1.8
Justin Brownlee	44.4	18.1	10.7	12.6	3.9	2.3
Justin Burrell	41.4	19.2	8.6	18.6	2.5	1.1
Malik Stith	26.3	5.0	19.0	24.7	0.0	1.7
Dele Coker	18.7	12.6	2.3	23.5	10.1	2.2

The point guards, Malik Stith and Malik Boothe were remarkably inefficient. While neither was an effective scorer, the root cause was turnovers (see TO% above). Little wonder the two guards played so small a role in the offense for the past two seasons. Unfortunately this the staff has no fresh face to remediate this area in 2011.

Significant Additions
Dwayne Polee. See all those names in the table above? The 6-7, 193 pound forward out of Westchester HS, California is probably more athletic than most of the current front court rotation, but if he is not "Big East ready", will see only limited minutes this season. Check this space next pre-season -- Coach Lavin will have 10 roster spots to fill, and has garnered weekly write-ups this fall with 2011-12 signings.


Explode If...
1. The staff can teach the guards how to reduce turnovers and distribute the ball. If Boothe and Stith can (drastically) improve their shooting and reduce their turnovers, the offense would easily improve 7% or better with little change elsewhere.
2. Learn how to close out opponents. Using fresh offensive schemes will help initially. The trick will be to continue to diversify the offense, adding new elements as the season progresses.
3. The low post play improves. Sean Evans rebounds very well, but has not finished consistently (eFG% 46.0) and does not get to the line enough (FTR% -- FTA/FGA 34.5, in the low range for a bfc). Dele Coker have been practically invisible in the offense the past two seasons, as his Poss% in the table above suggests (about 12%), but his efficient shot conversion (eFG5 was 62.9; PPWS was 1.14) was sabotaged (offensive efficiency was 99.1) by a very high turnover rate (23.5).

Implode If...
While it is difficult to see how a group that has played together as much as this squad could implode, injuries have historically distracted the squad and sidelined the more efficient scorers and leaders at crucial times (Justin Burrell is sidelined 4-6 weeks to start this season). The fans and players are ready to see a much better result this season, let's hope they can weather any early disappointments/surprises.

Crucial Run/Bellweather Games
The Coach will make his debut on the road (versus the WCC's Saint Mary's), the price I guess, for one of the first slots in ESPN's Basketball Marathon (11/16 into 11/17), and probably the sternest test of the out of conference schedule (OOC) -- outside of Gaels no opponent is projected to finish higher than the middle of their respective conference -- before the Holiday Festival. The Johnnies will meet Davidson and possibly Northwestern in the Holiday Festival before opening the Big East season in Morgantown, WV. Running the OOC table is probably optimistic, but more than one loss would have to be a disappointment, as the Johnnies will have to rely on their conference schedule (late season meetings with Duke and UCLA excepted) for the numbers to put them in the conversation for an NCAA bid.

Of St. John's mirrors, (Cincinnati, Georgetown and Notre Dame), the Hoyas are expected to dominate (though a front court matchup with Julian Vaughn and Sean Evans might be interesting), but the Bearcats and Irish will compete for a spot in the second quartile. The Red Storm will have to beat them to gain advantage in a tie-breaker. The first six games will be crucial, typical of a zero-tolerance Big East schedule. After West Virginia, the Johnnies play Providence (A), Georgetown (H), Notre Dame (A), Syracuse (H) and their closeout with Notre Dame (H). 3-3 would be good, fewer than two wins would be very bad for their chances of finishing out in the upper division. While two of the projected top teams are lodged in the last five games, a motivated St. John's squad should be able to go no worse than 2-3 (but hopefully 3-2 or better) against that slate (Pittsburgh, DePaul and South Florida at home, Villanova and Seton Hall on the road).

St. John's Post Game: Ebb and Flow

The Homecoming, Part 2
Coach Wright's first head coaching job was Hofstra Univesity, a D1 program and member of the Colonial Athletic Association Conference. And located on Long Island, just east of New York City. Coach Wright has scouted the talent in the New York metropolitan area, maintained contacts with local high school and AAU coaches and has persuaded a steady stream of New York and New Jersey high school players to take their college educaton on the Mainline. Home-and-home contracts with Stony Brook and Fordham, unusual in an era of guarantee games, are common with Villanova but carry an ulterior motive. The Wildcats want games that New York and northern New Jersey fans (and prospects) can get to easily.

The Official website has an AP wire story, some post game notes and the box score. The breakdown by halves...

Opponent	St. John's
	1st	2nd	Game
Pace	37.5	36.6	74.1
	Offense				Defense
	1st	2nd	Game		1st	2nd	Game
Rating	98.6	120.2	109.3		101.3	90.2	95.8
eFG%	57.4	50.0	53.6		63.0	32.9	44.3
TORate	32.0	19.1	25.6		24.0	13.7	18.9
OR%	20.0	52.9	37.5		18.2	40.0	34.1
FTA/FGA	29.6	65.5	48.2		47.8	34.2	39.3
FTM/FGA	22.2	51.7	37.5		39.1	21.1	27.9
ARate	42.9	50.0	46.4		69.2	27.3	50.0
Blk%	11.1	17.2	14.3		17.4	13.2	14.8
Stl%	10.1	11.1	10.6		8.5	5.4	6.9
PPWS	1.20	1.16	1.18		1.35	0.75	0.98
2FG%	68.8	50.0	57.1		55.6	29.6	40.0
3FG%	27.3	33.3	28.6		60.0	27.3	37.5
FT%	75.0	78.9	77.8		81.8	61.5	70.8
%2FG	59.5	59.1	59.3		52.6	48.5	50.7
%3FG	24.3	6.8	14.8		23.7	27.3	25.4
%FT	16.2	34.1	25.9		23.7	24.2	23.9

Notes & Observations
1. Possessions for each half was very consistent. I did not have that impression as I watched the game.
2. Strong scoring from the field in the first half was undermined (for both teams) by turnovers. Note that both Villanova and St. John's lost over a quarter of their possessions. For Villanova, the culprit was, to a significant degree, steals by St. John's. Villanova point guards Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns in particular had two turnovers apiece.
3. Villanova's first half offensive rebounding was weaker than usual. The Johnnies' front and back court contingents can split credit, even as they did the defensive rebounds -- each group had 6.

Did St. John's Hit the Wall?
Among other questions asked in the post game press conference, one that was asked several different ways (reporters are funny that way...if they don't get the answer they want/expect, they simply rephrase the question and ask again...or get a colleague to) was whether the Red Storm team had not learned how to close out an opponent yet. The observation was that they had "stayed with" the Wildcats for 30 or so minutes, but could not "finish". I decided to break the game down into four minute segments to look a the scoring. How long did the Johnnies stay with the 'Cats?

	Game Score			Pts. in Segment
Time	Nova	John's	Diff	Nova	John's	Diff
1st half
16:00	12	7	5	12	7	5
12:00	14	18	-4	2	11	-9
8:00	18	29	-11	4	11	-7
4:00	28	32	-4	10	3	7
0:00	37	38	-1	9	6	3
2nd half
16:00	44	46	-2	7	8	-1
12:00	52	49	3	8	3	5
8:00	62	52	10	10	3	7
4:00	67	57	10	5	5	0
0:00	71	61	10	4	4	0

Though not timed to the minute, the segments suggest that while St. John's came out strong in the second half and turned back a Villanova 19-9 run that closed out the first half by adding a point back onto their lead, the tide was turning before the 30:00 minute mark of the game (before the 10:00 minute mark of the second half). An 8-3 run through the segment that marked the first 28 minutes had put the Wildcats back on top. The next 4 minute segment (28:00 through 32:00) continued the Villanova run by adding another seven points onto the Wildcats' lead. the teams traded points and possessions through the end of the game. By the 32:00 minute mark it was pretty much over.

A Funny Thing Happened in the Post Game Presser
I have learned there is a rhythm and flow to questions at post game press conferences, apparent if one hears the post game pressers typically televised after each NCAA tournament game. One reporter was interested in player and coach (from both teams) reactions to Scottie Reynolds as the Big East Player of the Year. Variations of this question found their way into the several exchanges in the Villanova segment. Scottie and Coach Wright (Reggie Redding, the other Wildcat present at the conference did not offer an opinion) did not seem prepared for that one. Was it "out of context"? Or had they simply not considered the possibility that Scottie would be a serious alternative to preseason favortie Luke Harangody? I suspect it was a little of both. The coach talked about focusing on the games and letting the team (and Scottie's) performance "make the case". A good answer, but it did take him a few sentences to fix on it as "the response". The same reporter raised the question to the St. John's players during their post game interview. Seated as bookends to Coach Norm Roberts, Malik Stith and DJ Kennedy looked at each other after the question had been posed. Clearly they had not anticipated the question either. Stith fielded the question (and did a good job under the circumstances) and complemented Scottie's play with "He's a big shot taker and a big shot maker. He doesn't worry about missing, he focuses on his next shot...".

Oh Canada! After the Storm

Rolling Through Ottawa
As I noted at the end of the UQAM post Sunday morning, the Johnnies hung a 17 point win on the Carleton Univesity Ravens, possibly the high point of their Canadian Excursion. The Ravens, rebuilding from the loss of Aaron Doornekamp (who played for the Canadian National Team before heading off to Italy to begin his professional career), looked to a few of their younger players to fill the void left by Dornekamp. After trailing by 4 at half-time, the Red Storm blew past the Ravins in the first 5½ minutes of the 2nd half, and never looked back. The efficiency stats for the team...

							FTA
Team	Pace	eFG%	ORtg	PPWS	OR%	TO%	FGA	Ast%	Stl%
St. John's	60.5	53.7	117.3	1.14	18.5	5.0	31.5	36.0	8.2
Carleton	60.5	45.6	89.2	1.01	25.0	21.5	40.0	55.6	3.3

In a game whose pace was the most "DI like" of the quartet, the Johnnies put on one of their better offensive performances. Reflecting the level of their competition, St. John's defensive numbers were the worst of the trip. Each team negated the others offensive rebounding, neither team had many 2nd chance opportunities. By comparison though, the Johnnies did get the worse of the deal, grabbing a very slight 18.5% of their misses. The disadvantage went unnoticed because the Red Storm shot so well...

Nicks & Dings...Or Weary Legs?
The evening tilt against the Ottawa University Gee Gees, while counted as a win, was less impressive. Ottawa University, typically the bridesmaid to Carleton's domination in the CIS post season tournament, put up a surprisingly strong effort as they took the Red Storm down to (literally) the last seconds before bowing by a single point, 74-73. The efficiency stats suggest this was a loosely played game between two up tempo clubs, each of whom managed to lose over 20% of their possessions (Gee Gees -- 27.9%, Red Storm -- 22.6%)...

							FTA
Team	Pace	ORtg	eFG%	PPWS	OR%	TO%	FGA	Ast%	Stl%
St. John's	74.4	99.4	53.6	1.12	37.9	22.8	37.5	50.0	17.3
Ottawa	74.4	98.1	51.9	1.12	25.0	28.2	49.1	54.2	9.3

Comparing St. John's eFG% and PPWS in the two games and I found a surprisingly consistent accuracy (even the FTA/FGA suggests the same level of "aggression" on offense/defense between the two games). The biggest difference was turnover rates -- versus the Ravens the Johnnies lost 5% of their possessions, while versus the Gee Gees the Johnnies lost a disappointing 22.8%. Their turnovers nearly negated their shooting. St. John's steals (17.3%) was due in large measure to Malik Boothe and Justin Brownlee, who combined for 9 steals. Coach Roberts went with a short rotation, using only 8 players (all of whom played double digit minutes). His starters (Boothe, Brownlee, Evans, Horne and Kennedy) combined to play 71.3% of the minutes, extremely high for an exhibition game. The staff decided to leave Anthony Mason Jr. behind due to a minor injury, and that decision seemed to set the tone for the trip. Justin Burrell played only 8 minutes in the 1st game (versus McGill), while Quincy Roberts, after logging 20 minutes versus McGill, received only 9 minutes in the UQAM game and did not appear in either of the Sunday games (and was also rumored to be slightly injured). Rob Thomas and Kevin Clark, both (deep) bench players did not see the floor versus the Gee Gees, despite logging minutes versus Carleton, UQAM and McGill.

Summing Up the Players
I have compiled the efficiency stats for those who logged any time in the 4 game tour...

									FTA
Player	%Min	%Poss	ORtg	PPWS	eFG%	OR%	TO%	Ast%	FGA	DR%	Blk%	Stl%
Boothe	49.2	20.9	93.6	1.18	53.3	3.6	26.0	16.0	93.3	5.1	0.0	5.4
Brownlee	52.3	22.8	100.4	1.25	62.1	5.1	16.8	6.9	17.2	17.7	6.6	4.5
Burrell	19.7	40.8	118.4	1.80	100.0	9.0	33.2	0.0	25.0	4.3	0.0	0.0
Clark	3.7	16.2	89.8	1.00	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Evans	48.6	28.3	103.0	1.27	63.3	14.6	19.4	9.9	23.3	32.9	1.4	2.8
Hardy	69.7	19.1	107.6	1.30	64.5	1.3	10.0	3.8	7.9	2.4	0.0	1.9
Horne	69.1	20.6	118.1	1.33	61.8	9.0	9.4	7.4	29.4	14.6	3.0	4.4
Kennedy	66.0	29.6	100.7	1.13	52.3	12.1	12.0	10.9	39.5	25.5	5.3	1.5
Lawrence	47.9	19.7	84.0	0.91	40.0	5.5	14.1	9.9	35.0	22.8	1.4	4.2
Roberts	36.0	19.7	95.6	1.10	55.0	0.0	9.4	4.3	0.0	2.3	0.0	3.7
Stith	59.8	16.0	97.8	0.99	41.7	4.4	10.5	12.7	66.7	8.4	0.0	1.7
Thomas	10.6	16.5	138.5	1.80	90.0	0.0	19.1	9.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Granted 4 games (about 160 minutes of playing time per player) is a very small sample from which to draw conclusions. Efficiencies for players logging < 10% of the playing time is even dicier. Take those numbers with an even bigger grain of salt than the others. The four game mix does however, provide an opportunity to see (I caught the streaming video from Carleton Sunday. It was wonderful to see a college basketball game over Labor Day...) the team and review the numbers. A few things occur to me as I look over the box scores and the spreadsheets.
1. The true freshmen are well, true freshmen. Stith and Lawrence had PPWSs =<0.99 and ORtgs in the range of the mid 80s (Lawrence) to the mid 90s (Stith), very typical of freshmen. They will be good players in time, but I doubt they will be game-changers, or players that will have an immediate impact on St. John's play.
2. The JUCOs hung with the veterans, which is a good sign. When I read that Justin Brownlee, a forward out of Chipola College in Florida had committed to St. John's my first question was "Where is this guy going to get time?". The team has a serious supply of forwards. Brownlee fit in. With the limited time he still managed to produce points fairly efficiently. The same holds for off guard Dwight Hardy, who will provide another outside threat to compliment junior Paris Horne. Though Hardy seems to be a bit shy when it comes to contact (see his FTA/FGA), his shooting efficiency was 2nd to Horne, as he converted 38.9% of his 3FGAs on his way to scoring 51 points (tied for 2nd on the team with Horne, behind DJ Kennedy). With an In/Out rating of -39.5, he was the "most outside" player on the team, among those who logged 20% or more of the playing time. Horne by the way, had a very good run over the weekend too. Tied with Hardy with 51 points, he shot an outstanding 42.9% from beyond the arc, making him the 3rd most effective shooter on the team, behind Evans and Hardy. Outside scoring was a significant shortcoming for the Johnnies' offense in 2009, the Horne/Hardy tandem, if as effective during the season as they were in Canada, could make a big difference for opposing defenses.
3. Malik Boothe is still his own worst enemy. The junior point guard had an eFG% of 53.3, along with a PPWS of 1.18, among the best on the team. But his ORtg was still below 100 because his turnover rate was an abysmal 26.0%, extremely high for a point guard. Boothe offered a mixed bag of numbers -- very good shooting, tops on the team for Stl%, abysmal turnover rate and a too modest 16% assist rate -- which may well make rotation decisions difficult during the regular season. Malik Stith, the freshman pg, offered less effective shooting numbers (translated into a modest eFG% and PPWS), but assisted at about the same rate as Boothe, but with a smaller turnover rate.
4. Kennedy & Evans continue to be the best rebounders on the team. Burrell logged too few minutes for accurate measure, but Evans and Kennedy continued where they left off last season. On the defensive boards, the newcomers Brownlee and Lawrence proved to be credible rebounders. The Carleton game was unusual for St. John's in that it was the only time on the Canadian Tour, and only 11 times (out of 34 games)last season that the Johnnies were outrebounded. Especially interesting given the Ravens had lost Doornekamp, their big rebounder.

Caveat Emptor!
The Canadian Junket offers many positives, no wonder the NCAA banned them. Aside from giving the team an excuse to conduct full practices in late August (an especially bad time for pickup game injuries), the northern tours allow teams to travel relatively cheaply as they play other, collegiate-level (admittedly largely -- but not exclusively -- DII level) competition under the supervision of their college coaches. The Canadians have a chance to compete with some outstanding American programs, and both sides learn and benefit from the early exchange. The strongest new players to emerge on the Villanova team when they took their Canadian Tour in the 2007-08 season were (true) freshmen Malcolm Grant and Corey Stokes. From Stokes it was expected, but Grant was a surprise of sorts. The 3rd freshman guard, Corey Fisher, struggled very publicly during the tour. Stokes appeared completely lost in a number of early season games, saw his minutes diminished while he regained his focus. Grant, after a handful of early season heroics, faded to the bench, and received virtually no minutes during the Wildcat's season ending run to the Sweet Sixteen. Corey Fisher's time slowly grew during the season, and by March it was he, not Grant, who drew the rotation minutes during the NCAA run.