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St. John’s basketball: 4 things to watch for this season

By Kevin Connelly

St. John's basketball (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images)
St. John's basketball (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images) /
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St. John’s basketball forward Julian Champagnie /

The St. John’s basketball team has big expectations entering the 2021-22 season. 

College basketball season is here and the St. John’s basketball program will be looking to take the next step in the third year under head coach Mike Anderson.

Anderson returns one of the best players in the Big East with Julian Champagnie as well as the conference’s Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, Posh Alexander.

However, aside from Champagnie, Alexander, and Dylan Addae-Wusu, it is a brand new roster for the Johnnies with nine new players on this year’s team.

St. John’s looked dominant in an exhibition game against Division III Baruch but dropped a closed door scrimmage against Rhode Island, 85-83.

ALSO READ: St. John’s praises depth as spotlight shines on dynamic duo

Neither game can be analyzed in great detail because it was preseason action but certainly there are things that need to be sharped as the games start to count on Tuesday night.

The Johnnies will play a relatively weak non-conference schedule with the exception of a trip to Bloomington to face the Indiana Hoosiers in the Gavitt Games and a home matchup against Kansas in the Big 12 vs. Big East Challenge.

St. John’s will only play one other major conference opponent this season as Pittsburgh will come to Madison Square Garden in mid-December.

St. John’s basketball hoping to gel quickly

Mike Anderson has been adamant this offseason that it will take time for this team to come together and has vowed that St. John’s will be playing its best basketball as the new calendar year rolls around.

ALSO READ: St. John’s forward Aaron Wheeler ready to thrive in new system

A lot of the success the Red Storm will have this season will be on the shoulders of Julian Champagnie and how he deals with the major target on his back of being the team’s leader but he cannot do it alone.

There will be a handful of things to watch for throughout the season for St. John’s if the Johnnies hope to return to the NCAA Tournament.