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St. Joe's, La Salle predicted near bottom of A-10 at MBB Media Day

10/13/2022, 1:30pm EDT
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Saint Joseph’s and La Salle men’s basketball squads finished near the bottom of the Atlantic 10 standings last season. During the league’s media day on Thursday, the locals didn’t get a lot of faith from the rest of the conference that they are ready to turn things around. 

La Salle (11-19, 5-13) and St. Joe’s (11-19 overall, 5-13 A-10) finished 12th and 13th in the 14-team A-10 last season. The Hawks were tabbed as the 13th team and the Explorers the 14th in the now 15-team A-10 after Loyola Chicago joined the conference this season.


St. Joe's sophomore guard Erik Reynolds III was named to the All-Atlantic 10 preseason third team. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

St. Joe’s fourth-year coach Billy Lange and La Salle first-year head coach Fran Dunphy, in his first year coaching for his alma mater after stops at Penn (1990-2006) and Temple (2006-2019) sat down with other coaches from the league on ESPN+ and also discussed their teams on the A-10 Insider podcast as part of the media day coverage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“We’ve been improving, so we just gotta keep that trajectory going,” Lange said during an A-10 Insider interview.

“I say we’re on an upward trajectory with all humility,” he added. “I mean we’re picked 13th. But my job as the leader is to see it from within, the perspective from within.”

St. Joe’s sophomore guard Erik Reynolds III (12.1 ppg, 2.3 apg, 2.1 rpg) was the lone local on the preseason all-conference list, earning All Atlantic 10 third team preseason honores after having a spot on the 2021-22 A-10 All-Rookie Team. 

“The program’s built on the history of their great guards,” Lange said. “So that’s how you win and that’s how you’re going to win at Saint Joseph’s. So Erik Reynolds is in that level of great guard. I’m not saying he’s Rashid Bey or Jameer Nelson, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying he’s at that type of level where he can continue to get better and be there.”

Along with Reynolds, the Hawks also return senior forward Eijke Obinna (12.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and senior guard Cameron Brown (8.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) to the starting lineup. Redshirt-junior center Charles Coleman (2.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg) averaged 10.5 minutes per game last season and sophomore forward Kasper Klaczek started four of the 11 games he played before going down with an injury that kept him out after December.

Lange will have to rely on a lot of newcomers to fill out the rotation this season, including Roman Catholic product Lynn Greer III, a sophomore guard who transferred from Dayton last winter after only 10 career games. It also seems Lange anticipates significant contributions from a recruiting class that includes junior forward Louis Bleechmore (Harcum College) and freshmen Christian Winborne (Gilman School, Md.), Rasheer Fleming (Camden, N.J.), Christ Essandoko (Winston Salem Christian, N.C.) and Quin Berger (Westtown).

“The offseason has been about a brand new team that’s very, very young,” Lange said. We’ll play a lot of freshmen and sophomores, which those are taboo words in college basketball right now. That used to be the thing that was exciting about it. The offseason has been about learning them a lot, teaching them the basic things that they need to do to exist in college basketball. As you’re learning them, what do you refine? What do you take out? What do you put in? But I love the group. They’re a great group of people. Their intentions are awesome. But they’re brand new and very young.”

One of those young players Lange is excited about is Winborne, a 6-foot-2 guard from Baltimore, who was ranked No. 238 nationally by 247Sports.

“There’s a lot of times on the sideline as a coach where you’re like, ‘Why don’t we have a guy who can make that play?’ He is one of those guys who can make that play,” Lange said. “I just think with his character and his competitiveness, and his skillset he has a chance to be an all-timer.”


Sophomore guard Khalil Brantley is part of an exciting backcourt for La Salle first-year coach Khalil Brantley. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Dunphy is back on the sidelines for the first time since he capped his stint at Temple in 2018-19 with an NCAA Tournament appearance. The last three seasons were the first time since 1988-89 he wasn’t the head coach of a Division I basketball program, and though there was some reluctance at first he is happy to be back coaching and make a return to the A-10, in which he coached for seven seasons at Temple.

“Everybody wanted to check my temperature right away and I understand, totally understand,” Dunphy said of his decision to return. “But again, it’s an opportunity to give back something to an institution that gave me so much oh so many years ago and then gave me two other stints as an assistant coach as well.

“It was my alma mater asking me to come back is really what it was. It wasn’t something I campaigned for. That wasn’t how this went down, but when the opportunity was presented to me, at first I didn’t want to do this, but then I started thinking a little bit and I’m appreciative of my alma mater to do this. The people at La Salle and the administration and really the kids. And really that’s what it’s all about. “

Like Lange, Dunphy has a handful of holdovers but will have to replace quite a bit of production from the 2021-22 squad.

Senior guard Josh Nickelberry (11.2 ppg, 2.8 rpg) is the team’s top returning scorer after playing a big role in his first season following a transfer from Louisville. Junior guard Jhamir Brickus (8.9 ppg, 3.3 apg), a Coatesville product and the team’s assist leader, and sophomore guard Khalil Brantley (8.0 ppg) both also return after testing the transfer portal.

Brantley mostly came off the bench last season, but Dunphy seems keen on pairing them together in the back court this season.

“I think they can play a lot together,” Dunphy said. “They have a knowledge of the game that’s very good. They both bring different aspects to the game. Khalil, he’s an electric guy. He can push the ball very quickly, he can get himself to the basket, he’s making shots. Jhamir, he plays with pace. They work off each other very well, similar size, so we’ve gotta be tough, smart and very nasty on the defensive end if we’re going to go small, but I think they can play a lot of minutes together.”

Junior guard Anwar Gil (4.4 ppg, 2.9 apg) averaged nearly 20 minutes per game last season and graduate forward Mamadou Doucoure made 13 starts. They make up the rest of the returning rotation players.

Senior forwards Hassan and Fousseyni Drame transferred from St. Peter’s. Rokas Jocius, a 6-10 forward from Lithuania, is another player the program is excited about. Athletic sophomore wing Daeshon Shepherd could also see an expanded role.

“The reality is we have to win games,” Dunphy said. “That’s what everybody wants to do and I need those guys who are playing in our program, I need them close by me and want them to take care of me, take care of the old man a little bit, see if they can help me along and they’ve been great, great so far. That part of it, the fun part of it is being with them everyday in the practice setting.”

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2022-23 American Athletic Conference MBB Preseason Poll

1. Dayton (22 first-place votes, 428 points)
2. Saint Louis (7, 411)
3. VCU (370)
4. Loyola Chicago (315)
5. George Mason (300)
6. Davidson (294)
7. Richmond (276)
8. Massachusetts (228)
9. Rhode Island (203)
10. St. Bonaventure (194)
11. Fordham (119)
12. George Washington (110)
13. Saint Joseph’s (107)
14. La Salle (63)
15. Duquesne (62)

Preseason All-Conference First Team
Foster Loyer, Sr., G, Davidson
DaRon Holmes II, So., F, Dayton
Josh Oduro, Sr., F, George Mason
Tyler Burton, Sr., F, Richmond
Yuri Collins, Jr., G, Saint Louis
Ace Baldwin Jr., Jr., G, VCU

Preseason All-Conference Second Team
Toumani Camara, Jr., F, Dayton
Malachi Smith, So., G, Dayton
James Bishop IV, Sr., G, George Washington
Noah Fernandes, Sr., G, Massachusetts
Gibson Jimerson, R-So., G, Saint Louis
Javonte Perkins, Sr., G/F, Saint Louis

Preseason All-Conference Third Team
Darius Quisenberr, Gr., G, Fordham
Braden Norris, R-Sr., G, Loyola Chicago
Brayon Freeman, So., G, Rhode Island
Erik Reynolds II, So., G, Saint Joseph’s
Francis Okoro, Sr., F, Saint Louis
Jayden Nunn, So., G, VCU

Preseason All-Conference Defensive Team
DaRon Holmes II, So., F, Dayton
Malachi Smith, So., G, Dayton
Yuri Collins, Jr., G, Saint Louis
Francis Okoro, Sr., F, Saint Louis
Ace Baldwin Jr., Jr., G, VCU


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