Head Coach: Billy Lange (59-91); 6th season
Theme Song: Dreams & Nightmares by Meek Mill
Last Season: Billy Lange’s breakthrough season on Hawk Hill finally arrived with his first 20-win season ever as head coach between his time at the Naval Academy and Saint Joseph’s. Joe’s also claimed their first Big 5 championship since 2011, ending Villanova’s stranglehold on the hardware for eight of the last ten seasons—worth noting in the new format, but still worthy of recognition.
Despite a questionable ending to the regular season, the Hawks kicked things into high gear when it counted. Taking out George Mason in their opening A10 tournament game, then stunning the first overall seed, Richmond, with a five-point victory in a thriller behind 30 points from Erik Reynolds.
Joe’s then took the eventual tournament runners-up, VCU, to the brink in a six-point defeat. Unfortunately for Joe’s, their shooting went cold at the worst time but had once again exceeded all expectations set for them last fall. It’s become a theme in the last few years with this group they embrace the role of spoiler once postseason play comes around.
Go ahead and call me crazy for putting Saint Joseph’s as my best team of the preseason, because it sure is a hot take by definition, but there is a legitimate argument as to why (unlike last season). Last season they were one or two possessions away from potential glory, giving reason this team is going to be right there come March.
Arrivals: Derek Simpson (Rutgers), Kevin Kearny (F), Khaafiq Myers (F), Justice Ajogbor*, Mekai Johnson (F), Steven Solano (F)
Departures: Cam Brown, Kacper Klaczek (T), Lynn Greer III (T), Christ Essandoko (T), Charles Coleman
Returnees: Erik Reynolds, Xzayvier Brown, Anthony Finkley, Dasear Haskins, Shawn Simmons II, Rasheer Fleming
Potential Strengths: Without question, this is one of the most talented teams in the entire league. Billy Lange is an S-tier recruiter who not only identifies quality A10 talent, but some of these guys are probably good enough to play at the next level. Lange’s player development is also second to none in this league—almost everyone who has come through Hawk Hill left a better player than when they arrived (this we can all agree on).
His offensive strategy epitomizes modern basketball: shoot threes like crazy people. I have come to appropriately brand his style as “three-fense”. The Hawks have led the league in attempted threes the past five seasons, last year leading the league in made threes with 10 per game on 35% shooting as a team.
The spacing has allowed Reynolds to greatly benefit from his scoring prowess. He cracked the 1,000-point mark at the end of his sophomore season and hasn’t slowed down since. Last year was his most efficient season from three, knocking down 38% of his long-range bombs on 42% overall from the field. Reynolds will have the ball in his hands every possession possible looking to claim A10 player of the year honors as a senior.
He’s been paired with the reigning A10 rookie of the year, and Philadelphia native, Xzayvier Brown, to form a bomb-squad backcourt. There were times last season when I watched Brown and saw a younger version of Reynolds out there—a clone, if you will. He was one of the better passers in the league, dishing 3.3 dimes per game, good for second on the team. Brown is also a fantastic on-ball defender, averaging 1.8 steals per contest last season which led the Hawks.
Reynolds and Brown are, unquestionably, the best backcourt in the league and it’s simply not close.
Additional help has arrived following Lynn Greer going to the other side of the city, with Rutgers import Derek Simpson. Simpson isn’t the same shooter that Greer was, but he’s certainly a capable ball handler and facilitator. He will provide strong defense at the guard position, with a career +2.9 on defense, an element the Hawks are going to need. Simpson’s three-ball will need to improve for the Hawks to achieve maximum spacing, and while Simpson is a sub 30% shooter for his career, his percentages jumped 7% from his freshman to sophomore season.
Freshman Khaafiq Myers, a three-star prospect, will also join this vaunted guard group albeit in a limited role. I do like the speed he brings as a small guard, making tempo-pushing for the Hawks almost automatic. He’s got a solid first step with a decent jumper. Though diminutive in size, he’s got decent sleight of hand for stealing the ball and isn’t afraid of the contact. This year could be hard for him to crack the rotation for real minutes, as he’s probably a player for the future, but he’ll have three great mentors ahead of him.
Where the Hawks needed some help was paint defense. While Essandoko was awesome last season, his stamina limited his impact some nights forcing Rasheer Fleming to play the small ball-five. Lange shored up the middle with Justice Ajogbor, a graduate transfer from Harvard. Ajogbor was a shock-blocking machine in Cambridge, averaging 2.9 rejections a contest and second in the nation in block percentage at 13.6%.
Fleming also rejected 1.5 shots a game and saw his scoring totals go up. Lots of folks called on his three to improve, which it did—29% to 32% is an improvement no doubt, but Fleming is a beast in the paint with how athletic he is. Fleming shot a surreal 71% at the rim last year, a number that should continue to hover around there. He’s incredibly versatile on defense making switching as easy as it can be for this team. Backing these two up will be freshman Steven Solano, a coveted three-star freshman from the Bronx. The 7’ freshman should provide rebounding help and offer a body on defense at the bare minimum. Don’t be surprised if this guy is standing in the dunker spot on offense, being fed shovel passes from a collapsing defense for an easy score.
Lange has a pair of frequent flyers in Anthony Finkley and Shawn Simmons II who are going to see increases in their production this year. They weren’t featured much on offense, but I do like what they can provide on the wings defensively. Keeping with our theme of great athletes, both of these guys can be demons on defense and keep up with some of the A10’s exemplary offensive units. Offensively, look out for these guys in transition as lob threats or if one of them dunks all over a defender.
Other wins include Brooklyn-ite Kevin Kearney from South Shore, and Mekai Johnson, who hails from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Kearney has a super clean stroke from what I have gathered on the internet and is ridiculously athletic. He was second-team all-New York his senior year of high school, making him one of the most coveted players in the state. Johnson put on a show in AAU at DMV live, scoring 51% of his threes to go along with 15 points, six rebounds, and two assists per game during the showcase.
“The Lange Gang” does not lack high-end talent in any sense. All of these guys would see larger roles elsewhere but chose to stack the deck for themselves on Hawk Hill. All will be encouraged to shoot threes and hopefully have their talents maximized to drive Joe’s towards the A10 title.
Potential Weaknesses: I will say that while the spacing could get a bit strange with this team it’s not impossible to fix these issues. I do think Simpson’s shooting can improve to where he isn’t a liability, and replacing Essandoko with Ajogbor was somewhat necessary for this team to improve their defense. So long as he’s not infecting the spacing, the offense should continue to flow fine.
No Saint Joseph’s article is ever complete without a discussion of Billy Lange himself. This is an extremely polarizing subject amongst not just Hawk enthusiasts, or Coach Mil, but all A10 sickos will go back and forth for hours on Lange. I will now present my case to the jury.
First things first, Lange gets a pass for the first three seasons with the Hawks simply based on how many injuries he had to deal with. Everyone deals with injury, sure, but Lange’s situation those first few years was so bad that the Hawks they were bound to suck.
The downside to Lange is that while his strategy is tailor-made for the modern game, Joe’s hasn’t quite hit threes with great efficiency since he arrived. The Hawks haven’t even been higher than eighth in team three-point percentage in the past five years. One can attribute it to Lange giving too much leash to his guys, some will blame his horrendous late-game management that cost this team some easy wins.
Even then, he supervised noticeable improvement over those seasons. Players such as Ryan Daly, Jordan Hall, Reynolds, Cam Brown, and Greer, are just a few examples. As they improved, so did the team with their win totals.
Where things get interesting is how this team performs in the postseason. In 2023, the Hawks made a surprise appearance in the quarterfinals where they narrowly defeated Dayton. Things came down to one loose ball not going their way, allowing Dayton to escape. Had Joe’s won, would they have beaten Fordham? For that particular season, I’ll say no.
They took another step forward with a semifinal appearance last year and also earned an NIT bid where they went pound for pound with the eventual winner, Seton Hall. Despite an off day from Kadary Richmond and only five bench points produced by the Pirates, the Hawks came just short of making serious postseason noise in their three-point overtime loss. Would they have taken down the team of destiny for the title had they beaten VCU? I will also say no, but stranger things have happened.
X-Factor: I may have been ahead of schedule, but I will once again prop up Dasear Haskins as the critical piece who can change the season. He is coming off a redshirt year which usually proves to work out well in most cases. Haskins presents good length at 6 ‘6”, and from what is available about him, he seems to be a quality 3&D wing. The Hawks will need all the wing help they can muster up, and with Haskins coming off the redshirt, he should be able to contribute right away as a glue guy.
Outlook: It did take some time, but Lange got the Hawks back in a postseason tournament for the first time since 2016. With the track record of the last two seasons and the personnel assembled for 2024-2025, the Hawks have a chance to hoist the trophy. Joe’s has everything they need to win, there are no excuses anymore barring a freak accident. They’ve got perhaps the best guards in the league, traded in offense for some much-needed defense, and talented underclassmen who can fill roles. If Lange can stay out of his way, the Hawks will go back to the NCAA Tournament.
