The Holy Land of Hoops

Another Top 100 player coming to the Big East. Brandon Sampson committed to St. John's this morning according to Scout. He is is a four star shooting guard ranked 32 on ESPN's Top 100 and Scout has him at 62 and 19 at his position. Lav's needed this kid in a big way.

http://scouthoops.scout.com/story/15012 ... -st-john-s

Now we have to land a couple bigs, starting with Diallo. Getting Sampson is great news, but there's still plenty of work to do.

Congrats! Great pick up for you guys. Hopefully you can land Diallo now to avoid potentially falling off the map for a year. I thought Sampson and Diallo would both be tough after losing Briscoe, but you guys still managed to get at least one of them on board.

Hall2012 wrote:Congrats! Great pick up for you guys. Hopefully you can land Diallo now to avoid potentially falling off the map for a year. I thought Sampson and Diallo would both be tough after losing Briscoe, but you guys still managed to get at least one of them on board.

Exactly. I don't think we can make the tournament next year. There is no chance, but get a few more solid recruits and it could be a year where we are at least competitive instead of being a punching bag of the big east

Good pick up. Apparently Diallo is still looking at us as a potential school for him.

Jordan is clearly coming back, he's not going pro. Thats a big joke right now. He can't even crack the starting lineup of a college team. He needs more time to work on his game.

I also hope to see Obekpa come back and make some more strides on his offense which has improved but not yet ready for the pro level. Him along with the younger Delarosa and hopefully Diallo will be a serious big man trio.

RedStormHoops wrote:

Hall2012 wrote:Congrats! Great pick up for you guys. Hopefully you can land Diallo now to avoid potentially falling off the map for a year. I thought Sampson and Diallo would both be tough after losing Briscoe, but you guys still managed to get at least one of them on board.

Exactly. I don't think we can make the tournament next year. There is no chance, but get a few more solid recruits and it could be a year where we are at least competitive instead of being a punching bag of the big east

I wouldn't say no chance. It's clearly a rebuilding year but stranger things have happened. Hello Butler! With all the stuff they were going through in what was also supposed to be a rebuilding year and they are in the hunt for a bid to dance.

NJRedman wrote:

RedStormHoops wrote:

Hall2012 wrote:Congrats! Great pick up for you guys. Hopefully you can land Diallo now to avoid potentially falling off the map for a year. I thought Sampson and Diallo would both be tough after losing Briscoe, but you guys still managed to get at least one of them on board.

Exactly. I don't think we can make the tournament next year. There is no chance, but get a few more solid recruits and it could be a year where we are at least competitive instead of being a punching bag of the big east

I wouldn't say no chance. It's clearly a rebuilding year but stranger things have happened. Hello Butler! With all the stuff they were going through in what was also supposed to be a rebuilding year and they are in the hunt for a bid to dance.

Right now I predict us to be last seasons butler team. Hopefully we can keep getting recruits

Very nice pick up for SJU! I honestly thought with Briscoe going elsewhere that would kill your chances with Sampson and Diallo but with Sampson committing that was obviously not the case. If you guys get Diallo and Obepka and Jordan both stick around that will be very good for you guys. I have my fingers crossed for you. As much as I love beating you guys I know how important it is for the Johnnies to be good for the Big East.

If obekpa sticks around, anything is possible next year. Obekpa is a game changer. Throw in this kid and hopefully rysheed Jordan uses his head and sticks around and that team can be competitive (top 75 team, possible tourney selection)

But with obekpa leaving it would be full blown rebuilding.

How are the johnnies looking with diallo?

Big get for us. I thought he was gone with Briscoe. Big, long frame. Supposedly can finish and is also a decent jump shooter. Can be a real nice 4 year player. Our 3 star Doughty is underrated IMO and has been a scoring machine for his HS team even in the 30's and 40's. As for Jordan, he will almost definitely not be back. He has been saying for years now he's leaving after this year. Even though he won't get drafted, he can play overseas and still get a good paycheck. He has said his first priority is feeding his family. And even if he doesn't leave to go pro, he will likely leave because he's had tons of issues here and seems to be a diva.

If Jordan stays somehow though and we can get one more guard say Lovett or Artis, it would be absolutely major. Then by doing that, Diallo would really give us a good look. And if we got Diallo after all that, we have a top 15 class.