6. Saint Joseph’s Hawks
Last Season: After two and a half seasons of injuries, Hawk enthusiasts whined to bring back Phil Martelli, and almost indirectly called for the AD’s resignation. That’s not to say that the transition post-Martelli has been smooth, but 2022-23 was certainly a step in the right direction for the Lange Gang (someone put this on a t-shirt). During his first two seasons, beyond the fact those teams had paper-thin depth, the team was hurt every damn day which derailed any upward progress. Lange’s 2021-22 season was better but still had guys out with significant injury time.
For the first time under his supervision, the rotation was healthy in their quest for A-10 glory. Nobody missed any significant time that derailed the season completely. Erik Reynolds notched the 1,000-point milestone as a sophomore and was rewarded with an all-conference second-team nod. Lynn Greer III brought a new dynamic as a scoring threat and led them in assists with 4.1 per contest. Though not his father, a Temple icon, he certainly brought some of that magic with him. Cameron Brown had his most productive offensive year in two seasons and saw a leap from Kacper Klazcek as a sophomore. They won seven of nine in the middle part of conference play, but the wheels came off in the final five games going 1-4 in that stretch.
Now, I’m not so sure this is a thing in Philadelphia, but much like La Salle, the Hawks took flight in the conference tournament. Things started rocky against Loyola-Chicago with a 72-67 victory behind Greer’s 22-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist performance — he certainly looked more like his dad in this game. The 10th-seeded Hawks then upset George Washington behind 34 from Reynolds, 14 from Greer, 18 from Brown, and Rasher Flemming going off for 12 and eight rebounds. Somehow, the team that was 187th in adjusted defense on Kenpom kept a 25-point effort from the A-10 scoring leader, James Bishop, at bay.
In the blink of an eye, Joe’s met Dayton in the quarterfinals in what was a close contest. The game came down to one loose ball that didn’t go in their favor, and despite his 19 points highlighted by late-game heroics, Reynolds and the Hawks were sent packing with a 16-17 final record. St. Joe’s Twitter will suggest that Billy Lange is the reason the Hawks cannot reach their full potential, others will blame the new-look Hawk mascot, and then you have the Martelli truthers. But what exactly are the Hawks up to? For year five under Lange, this is quite possibly the most talented Hawks team since their 2016 A-10 champion squad.
Returnees: Erik Reynolds, Lynn Greer III, Christian Winborne, Kacper Klazek, Rasheer Flemming, Charles Coleman, Cameron Brown
Out: Ejike Obinna, Louis Bleechmore, Anton Jansson
In: Christ Essandoko, Xzayvier Brown, Shawn Simmons II, Anthony Finkley, Dasear Haskins
Potential Strengths: Chemistry is always a massive plus when you’re three top offensive guys return. The roof with Reynolds, Greer III, and Brown is a very high one, especially with Lange’s “shoot at will” philosophy. The same goes for Kacper Klaczek and Rasheer Flemming, two guys who have a strong chance to take big leaps as all-around wing players. Both are exceptional defenders, leading the team in defensive box score by significant margins— Klaczek at +1.6 and Flemming at +1.0. If you listened carefully to some of the broadcasts this year and some of Billy Lange’s public statements, Fleming has a chance to be an all-timer on Hawk Hill. 5.8 points and 5 rebounds per game as a freshman on a team with volume guys is very promising.
The four true freshmen that are coming in all are athletic, fast, and wildly talented in their own ways. Most are high on Anthony Finkley, a 6’6” wing hailing from Philadelphia who has unreal athleticism. Shawn Simmons II is a clone of Finkley with his build, athleticism, and defense. A lot of Joe’s offense is going to come from isolation a la Reynolds, Brown, and Greer. If Finkley, Simmons Flemming, and others can read collapsing defenses they can feast from cuts and double teams for easy scores. Dasear Haskins is a 6’8” shooter who also plays defense which only helps their cause on that end.
Joe’s shoots with volume from three, they are not afraid to take them when they are cold and dump threes in when they’re hot. They hit the second most as a team per game (8.8) while taking the most at a whopping 26.7 per game. Lange runs an NBA style and has the right personnel to do so. Now with players of different skill sets, he’s going to have more creative freedom in the offense beyond chucking threes.
Potential Weaknesses: Defense is a very big concern this season. The perimeter defense has bodies like Klaczek, Flemming, and sometimes Brown will turn in a good defensive night. But if you go position by position, the point guard and center spots on defense are very concerning. Charles Coleman is a very confusing big man: he stands at 7’ but offensively is trying to be converted into a stretch five and isn’t exactly the intimidator in the paint that Joe’s needs.
The likely candidate to start at center will be Christ Essandoko for obvious reasons. It’s a gamble when guys come off the redshirt season, and while he was able to practice, the real deal is quite different. As I stated earlier in my La Salle preview, the A-10 has a ton of enforcers in the league. Will he be ready to take a nightly beating? The redshirt season should provide an advantage from a physicality standpoint with him being 7′, 280 pounds. He alone will dig Joe’s out of the bottom third of the conference in team rebounds (34.6 per game last year).
Point guard defense is also concerning, Reynolds and Greer have had some good nights on that end but it wasn’t consistent game in and game out. You could probably attribute it to the fact Reynolds had to put all of his energy into offense for the Hawks to win. Greer has a bigger body which should help him get better on that end, and Reynolds has the speed for it but they’ll need to show that effort each night. They have the skills to do it, and maybe they’ll finish higher in adjusted defense than 187th on Kenpom.
Isolation offense is great when you have prolific scoring players, but they need to get others involved more often to kick it into higher gear. Joe’s was a bottom-four passing team in the conference with 12.1 assists per game. How will Lange find a way to make everyone else better? Reynolds is great, Greer and Brown will do their thing, but how are they going to generate fourth and fifth scoring options? Could freshman Xzayvier Brown be a willing creator right away? Crisper ball movement will lead to better shot selection, and in Lange’s case, make the Hawks offense that much harder to defend.
Outlook: Everything about offense is where Joe’s will excel. These guys are going to put up A LOT of points very quickly. If they get hot from three especially, things could get very ugly for opposing defenses. They just need to get more guys involved on offense, and the team defense needs to improve if they want to challenge for a top-four spot. The yearly narrative is “Billy Lange holds the team back”, I tend to disagree. The reality is that replacing Phil Martelli is not easy nor to build a program when everyone is hurt every week. Last year was the first season Joe’s was relatively healthy in the Lang era — let’s hope they can avoid injuries to make a real jump this season.