City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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Big 5 Preseason Primers
MBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova
WBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova

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2023-24 Saint Joseph’s Hawks MBB Primer
Coach: Billy Lange, 5th season (38-77, .330)
Last Year: 16-17 (8-10 A-10), lost in A-10 quarterfinals (Dayton, 60-54)

It wasn’t quite a breakthrough season on Hawk Hill, but Lange’s group certainly built some reason for optimism in 2023-24 — the combination of a five-win increase over the season before, a good group of young talent to build around and the emergence of one of the best lead guards in the Atlantic 10. With six of its top seven back, a promising young big now eligible and a few more talented freshmen in the fold, the expectation is yet another year of significant improvement and a ceiling certainly including an NCAA Tournament look if all comes together.

Key Departures: C Ejike Obinna (8.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

The Hawks’ starting center most of the last two years, “Edge” played a big role in 2021-22 (12.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 30 starts) but saw that role slightly diminish last year, averaging 8.4 ppg and 5.4 in 22.6 mpg, starting 18 of 27 games. The muscular 6-foot-10, 243-pound post could finish around the rim and rebound at a good clip, but he couldn’t do much to stretch the floor or create offensively. St. Joe’s will miss his presence in the locker room, for sure, but they have the pieces on the roster to make up for his production, and in a more versatile way.

New Faces: PG Xzayvier Brown (Fr. | Roman Catholic), F Anthony Finkley (Fr. | Roman Catholic), F Dasear Haskins (Fr. | Camden, N.J.), WG Shawn Simmons (Fr. | Hillcrest Prep, Ariz.)

There’s no denying the Hawks’ staff has been bringing in talent, as this is the third straight recruiting class coaches have got to be happy about. Those who’ve paid attention to the local high school scene should recognize all four names. Simmons, who finished up his high school career at Hillcrest, is a Philly native who played at Bonner Prendergast and Friends’ Central earlier on. He arrived on Hawk Hill midway through last year but has not made his collegiate debut and has four full years of eligibility remaining. Haskins, from just across the river, played in Hagan Arena just last year, hitting four 3-pointers as Camden beat Imhotep in a game in late January. Brown and Finkley, the Roman Catholic pair, are plenty familiar with Hawk Hill — Brown’s dad (Justin Scott) is one of the SJU assistants. The two friends and teammates (with K-Low Elite as well) have both been to countless practices and games.

It’s a group that’s got a little bit of everything: the 6-3 Brown is a scoring point guard; Finkley is a 6-6, 230-pound wing forward with a point guard’s handle and passing abilities; Simmons is a terrific athlete at 6-6 on the wing; and Haskins is a bouncy 6-9 stretch ‘4’ whose best asset is his outside shooting.

Projected Lineup: G Lynn Greer III (12.5 ppg, 3.5 apg), G Erik Reynolds II (16.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg), WG Cameron Brown (13.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg), F Rasheer Fleming (5.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg), C Christ Essandoko (DNP)

There’s a bunch of different ways the St. Joe’s starting lineup could go, but three things are sure: Greer, Reynolds and Brown are back to form one of the best backcourts in the Atlantic 10, the trio a major reason why hopes are rising on Hawk Hill. Reynolds, a junior who already has 1,010 career points, shot 38% from 3-point range on 261 attempts last year as he proved himself one of the best scoring guards around. Greer, a 6-2 junior, averaged 17.2 ppg over the final 14 games of the season. And Brown, a grad student, has 1,161 career points and is perhaps the most versatile starter they have at 6-5.

The frontcourt is where things get interesting. Last year, Obinna (18 starts), Fleming (18 starts) and Kacper Klaczek (21 starts) all rotated through the starting lineup, with Charles Coleman (six starts) and Anton Jansson (one start) also chipping in. Fleming, a 6-9 forward, had the typical inconsistencies of a freshman year, but his high points were really impressive. Essandoko, a 7-footer from France, missed all last season due to eligibility issues but has had a significant amount of behind-the-scenes buzz the whole time. It could be Klaczek and Essandoko, it could be Klaczek and Fleming — but we’ll go with this pairing for now.

Key Reserves: G Christian Winborne (6.0 ppg), F Kacper Klaczek (7.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg), Xzayvier Brown, Dasear Haskins, Shawn Simmons

The success, or lack thereof, for the Hawks this season hinges on this group and what it can produce. This is a rotation that has the potential to have some real quality depth — we’re not even listing Finkley here, just because it’s hard to see the Hawks going 11 deep in a significant manner, but it also wouldn’t be surprising to see the freshmen each have their moments. In a perfect world, Lange gets a solid top nine of consistent production, with another couple who are more matchup-dependent and can help in different roles. The pieces are there for St. Joe’s to be able to match up with teams who are big, teams who are quick, teams who are long, etc.

Lynn Greer III (above, right) averaged 16.1 ppg over the last 17 games of last season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Biggest Strength: Backcourt

As mentioned above, the starting trio of Greer, Reynolds and Cameron Brown is the heart of this team, and their biggest reason for optimism this season. If Winborne can get over his shooting woes from a year ago — and especially if Xzayvier Brown can be a quality bench option — the Hawks could have real depth there as well, capable of rotating in and out five different ball-handlers who can create for themselves and others. It all starts with Reynolds, our Big 5 Preseason Player of the Year and someone who’s going to be on the A-10 Player of the Year watchlist, but he needs to continue playing at a high level night in and night out. There’s no reason to think he can’t.

Area for Improvement: Bench Shooting

The Hawks were a below-average outside shooting team last year, hitting 32.9% from deep against Division I competition, which was 229th in the country according to KenPom. That’s an important stat for a team that took 45.9% of its shots from beyond the arc, 16th in the country. The problem wasn’t the starters: Reynolds (37.9%) and Brown (36.0%) led the team in percentage and volume as each launched well over 200 3s, with Greer 29-of-87 (33.3%) right around the team average. But Klaczek (27-of-91, 29.7%), Winborne (15-86, 17.4%) and Fleming (22-74, 29.7%) all left quite a few shots on the table. In their senior seasons at Roman, Finkley shot 37% from deep and Xzayvier Brown 34.2%. Haskins showed his 3-point prowess for Camden, but we don’t have shooting percentages. Lange has plenty of options for someone (or some-two) to step up and knock down shots so he can feel more comfortable getting production when Reynolds/Brown/Greer are on the bench.