Very Early St. John’s Red Storm Players and Coach Report Card

Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The St. John’s Red Storm are off to a pretty solid start. Despite falling to the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the NIT Season Tip-Off final the Johnnies have been playing well enough that a close loss to the 10th ranked team in the country probably proves more to idea that they are an NCAA Tournament team than it does of them having another season full of disappointment.

The schedule is lined up in a very solid way for St. John’s going forward as well. Currently sitting at 4-1 on the season the Red Storm should be in a very good position to win at least six of their next seven games before Big East Conference competition begins. The only game where the Johnnies will be billed as underdogs will be against the Syracuse Orange in the infamously horribly billed Battle for New York. Even with that being said, using the team’s performance up until this point, it is a very realistic prediction that they will open the season no worse than 9-3 and could even start it as well as 11-1. All positive signs if you are a fan of the program.

For non St. John’s fans, this team happens to be one of the more entertaining teams in the entire country to watch. Each player in the Red Storm rotation fills a need, doing so beautifully well, which makes consuming them on your picture-box a joy. Between Chris Obekpa using his aerodynamic shorts to block shots, Rysheed Jordan seemingly living up to the billing of being a potential superstar, D’Angelo Harrison still volume-shooting his way into the St. John’s record books, Phil Greene IV having moments of brilliance, to Sir’Dominic Pointer using his athleticism to end up in highlight reels, this team has a little something something for everyone.

That does not mean it is all positive for the Johnnies. They sometimes play with a low-level of basketball IQ, Steve Lavin still seems to let the players dictate a stagnant offense from time to time and there’s virtually no depth on the Red Storm seven man rotation.

But we are not here to give an overall synopsis of the program as a whole. Instead, we are going to take a look at each member of the seven man rotation individually, as well as Steve Lavin, and give out some early report cards for the St. John’s Red Storm. Just remember; it is very early in the season. No need to overreact too positively or negatively at this point — even though I am about to do so.

Next: Rysheed Jordan