St. John’s basketball looking for bench spark from forgotten piece

The St. John’s basketball program is looking for a spark off the bench.

Mike Anderson should have a much deeper bench than he did in his first season as the head coach of the St. John’s basketball program and one key reason in that could be John McGriff.

McGriff did not play in his freshman season with the Johnnies after undergoing surgery on his shoulder prior to the season and was placed with a medical red-shirt.

Coming to Queens out of Bowie, Maryland, McGriff was ranked as a three-star recruit by both ESPN and 247Sports and the guard owns the school’s career assists record at Bishop McNamara High School.

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Only seen on the bench for the majority of the season, McGriff had been getting shot up in pregame warmups with the rest of his team in February before the season was abruptly ended.

However, John McGriff is back at practice for the Red Storm and Anderson spoke very highly of his guard in his return from injury.

The St. John’s head coach mentioned how hard the 6-foot guard had been practicing and watching his high school game footage, McGriff could fill a role that was left by the graduation by Nick Rutherford.

How can the St. John’s basketball utilize John McGriff?

Rutherford, who was listed at 6-foot-3, was a trustworthy ball handler and defensive monster in the full-court pressing style for Mike Anderson and the St. John’s basketball team.

While McGriff won’t nearly see as much playing time as Rutherford did in his only season in Queens, he could be a rotational piece that Anderson uses to give his other guards a breather.

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Guards are such a important factor in the system of Mike Anderson and last season the team was drained by the end of each game because of its lack of depth and this season the Johnnies’ head coach is confident that he has the team to fully execute his system.

Regardless of playing time, it will be great to see John McGriff back on the court after suffering an injury before his freshman season.