Holy Land fan poll - who finishes in 6th this season?

[Amase2]

My question for guys taking the hall over SJU. Looking at just the rosters I think it is pretty clear that St. John's has the better and more experienced team. The stength of seton hall this year will be their back court, but how many people would take Gibbs and Whitehead over Harrison and Jordan? Plus two solid seniors in Branch and Greene to back them up. The front court is the perceived weakness for both teams, but we return our starting center. So what is it? Lavin? Thats the only viable reason I can see, and I cant fault people for worrying about him. Just curious.

I am really high on Sterling Gibbs, I think he will continue to make big strides and by the end of the season he will be in contention for First Team All-Conference. I think Whitehead has incredible potential, too. By the time Big East play begins, he'll have around 10 games under his belt, which is enough time to have adjusted to the college game. Also, I must admit that I'm not as high on Jordan as a lot of people are. Will he even start? I do like Harrison quite a bit, though. Thus I have Gibbs and Whitehead, by just a bit.
To the frontcourt, though Obekpa returns, I am not so sure about the newcomers. I strongly doubt that they will be as good as Sampson. Seton Hall loses quite a bit up front too, but I think it's a wash with so many question marks on both sides right now. And Lavin. Well, what can I say that hasn't been said already? Not much. St. John's would probably be much better without him. I'd take Willard over him any day, in all honesty. Hence, why I have Seton Hall over St. John's, but not by much.

Thanks for answering. And yes Jordan will definitely start. He is our most talented player.

[Hall2012]

Lots of people sleeping on the Johnnies but I love it. Low expectations are when this team performs best and pulls the big upsets. We still have the talent to beat anyone in the country on any given day. Last year we hung tough with top 10 teams. Imagine how different the season would have been if we held on to beat #8 Nova and #2 Cuse? We would have finished in the top 15. Talent is there, but the coaching is what holds us back IMO. I can understand why people are low on us because even off a 20 win season we haven't made a tourney, but IMO Keith Thomas will make a big difference rebounding with a pretty crisp offensive game and won't try to do too much like Sampson or Sanchez…instead he will dish to our guards. We also have the twin tower 7 foot De La Rosa brothers and a pure shooter from Italy. We shall see.

By the way, no way SHU finishes top 5. They are all babies. In 2012 SJ had a roster of top 50 freshmen and sucked. So how is SHU expected to accelerate their growth process?

Just because St. John's struggled with the young team doesn't mean Seton hall will too. As great as Lavin is at recruiting, he can't coach his way out of a paper bag. St. John's wins the games they do on sheer athleticism, despite their coach. They're a bunch of talented individuals, but not a team. Personnel wise, St. John's has lost more than it's gained. The biggest thing the Johnnies have going for them is that their young guys will all be a year older, but Lavin's track record suggests there isn't much reason to believe that also means a year better. As for SHU, Willard doesn't need to accelerate the freshman growth process so much as he needs to avoid decelerating it like Lavin. His biggest challenge may very well be getting Whitehead to play into his role on the team and not try to carry it by himself. If he does that successfully, they'll do well.

[xavierfano8]

I have Seton Hall here. They are bringing in the young talent, but they also lose a lot. Their guards will be very solid but they could be thin in the frontcourt.

I know the St. John's posters can be a little over the top sometimes, but I have to agree with them here. Seems like everyone is picking them low for some reason (Lavin, track history, etc). They have a lot of talent on that team and I would take Harrison/Jordan over any other guard combo in the league. I have them 3rd.

[BEX]

3-6 is the hardest for me to nail down. I think Xavier, St. John's, Providence, and Seton Hall could be shuffled in any order and it would be reasonable.

I would throw Georgetown in there as well . Think one of these teams will break out, then a crazy melee among the rest to go dancin' at the end the year.

[GumbyDamnit!]

I have Seton Hall here. They are bringing in the young talent, but they also lose a lot. Their guards will be very solid but they could be thin in the frontcourt.

I know the St. John's posters can be a little over the top sometimes, but I have to agree with them here. Seems like everyone is picking them low for some reason (Lavin, track history, etc). They have a lot of talent on that team and I would take Harrison/Jordan over any other guard combo in the league. I have them 3rd.

Agree with everything except best backcourt. I'll take Arch and Hilliard. But if I could hand pick a backcourt other than Nova's I'd pick SJU's. Not sure what the nay-Sayers are seeing... Harrison can score in bunches and Jordan can be unguardable at times. Whitehead might end up being the best player in the league at some future point but it's tough to put that much faith into a Frosh. Some top 20 players struggle out of the shoot. A few years back Nova nabbed Dom Cheek, who was ranked similarly to IW and was expected to be an impact player immediately. He had a tough Frosh year. The key for SHU is Gibbs IMO.

[NJRedman]

My question for guys taking the hall over SJU. Looking at just the rosters I think it is pretty clear that St. John's has the better and more experienced team. The stength of seton hall this year will be their back court, but how many people would take Gibbs and Whitehead over Harrison and Jordan? Plus two solid seniors in Branch and Greene to back them up. The front court is the perceived weakness for both teams, but we return our starting center. So what is it? Lavin? Thats the only viable reason I can see, and I cant fault people for worrying about him. Just curious.

I am really high on Sterling Gibbs, I think he will continue to make big strides and by the end of the season he will be in contention for First Team All-Conference. I think Whitehead has incredible potential, too. By the time Big East play begins, he'll have around 10 games under his belt, which is enough time to have adjusted to the college game. Also, I must admit that I'm not as high on Jordan as a lot of people are. Will he even start? I do like Harrison quite a bit, though. Thus I have Gibbs and Whitehead, by just a bit.
To the frontcourt, though Obekpa returns, I am not so sure about the newcomers. I strongly doubt that they will be as good as Sampson. Seton Hall loses quite a bit up front too, but I think it's a wash with so many question marks on both sides right now. And Lavin. Well, what can I say that hasn't been said already? Not much. St. John's would probably be much better without him. I'd take Willard over him any day, in all honesty. Hence, why I have Seton Hall over St. John's, but not by much.

Hahahaha What has Willard ever done? He's also on the hot seat and if this team struggles he's going to find himself out of a job. This is his last chance at the Hall. Also 10 games is not enough to get most frosh up to speed and I doubt it's enough for him as well. Especially since he'll have to face the veteran Johnnies to kick off conference play.

[SJHooper]

I'm glad Xavier and Nova fans are being honest here. It's just pretty laughable that a brand new team is picked to go dancing with a bunch of babies at #48 while SJ is #85 with some of the best players in the conference who are all veterans. I would have to agree that Lavin must be the sole reason. If we are talking about potential though SHU should be the #85 and SJ should be the #48. SHU is a team that has something like 9 tourney appearances which is barely higher than many mid majors. SJ has been terrible for much of the past 3 decades and has nearly 30. So to expect SHU to go from irrelevant to NCAA tourney while losing some good veterans and gaining rookies is foolish. Someone said "Not all top 20 players start out great". I would go further and say MOST do not have a good start and usually don't start showing their potential until the end of the season i.e. Jordan. The only rookies you see carrying teams are the ones on UK, Duke, Cuse, etc. aka consensus top 5 recruit type players.

Unless Whitehead does his best Tyler Ennis impression and plays nearly perfectly, SHU will definitely not be in the tourney. I'd be impressed if they even sniffed the bubble. I see them as a .500 team.

[Amase2]

I'm glad Xavier and Nova fans are being honest here. It's just pretty laughable that a brand new team is picked to go dancing with a bunch of babies at #48 while SJ is #85 with some of the best players in the conference who are all veterans. I would have to agree that Lavin must be the sole reason. If we are talking about potential though SHU should be the #85 and SJ should be the #48. SHU is a team that has something like 9 tourney appearances which is barely higher than many mid majors. SJ has been terrible for much of the past 3 decades and has nearly 30. So to expect SHU to go from irrelevant to NCAA tourney while losing some good veterans and gaining rookies is foolish. Someone said "Not all top 20 players start out great". I would go further and say MOST do not have a good start and usually don't start showing their potential until the end of the season i.e. Jordan. The only rookies you see carrying teams are the ones on UK, Duke, Cuse, etc. aka consensus top 5 recruit type players.

Unless Whitehead does his best Tyler Ennis impression and plays nearly perfectly, SHU will definitely not be in the tourney. I'd be impressed if they even sniffed the bubble. I see them as a .500 team.

What does the amount of tourney appearances have to do with anything?

[R to the OB]

Wait, are you now defending Lavin? Before you've been criticizing him more than anyone else on this board. You can't have it both ways.
And yes, I think Whitehead will be ready for Big East play. Ten games is enough to adjust for someone with that much talent. For the record, I see the Hall narrowly defeating the Johnnies on NYE.

[FormulaX]

I picked SJU here. I think Jordan, Harrison and Opekaba are great talents. But, there just seems to be a likely chance, for more drama, that will lead to a disappointing season?