A Year After the Seniors is DeAndre Ready?

It’s officially been one year since the beginning of last season’s amazing run for the SJU Men’s basketball team. One year ago the “big three” of Langston, Halil, and Ron were getting ready for their last season. Well, as all of us SJU fans know those guys truly did make the most of their last season and played their hearts out every single game, whether it was Lang breaking Pat Carroll’s record, or the guys bringing home the A-10 Trophy the season was truly memorable. Last season was truly the first time HawkHill had excitement comparable to the undefeated season. Those points that the “big three” provided us will not be matched again. Well, that season is over and to the students HawkHill does not have that same buzz or excitement for the upcoming season, with an abundance of youth it’s time to begin a new year.  

With the big three gone, the question is who will fill in, who will want the ball at the end of the game. Who will want to take the last shot of the game, and that player will have to be DeAndre Bembry. It is time for DeAndre to become the player we all are expecting him to become, the skills of a future NBA player. Bembry showed strengths last season’s even becoming the A-10 Rookie of the Year. We saw that he has the ability to score and control a game, but he did this while leaning on the shoulders of Langston and Ron, knowing that he did not have to be the true scorer or dominate the game. This off-season DeAndre has been working hard to become the elite player he wants to become. He’s been in the gym working on his shot, because he wants to be the guy that has the ball at the end of the game, he wants to be the elite scorer. DeAndre has the potential to be one of the best players in the A-10.

This season if the SJU Hawks want to be at their best, if they want to compete they will need DeAndre to play at his tops. The team is very young, with their only starting veteran being Chris Wilson. This season there is a lot of question marks with this team, we don’t even know who will be the starting 5 at the beginning of this season. But, if they want to succeed they will need DeAndre to play and score at his peak. DeAndre doesn't have to score 25 a game, as long as this team reaches their potential and plays together. This season may not see another tournament for us Hawks, but it will be a step in the right direction, and I see a March Madness run in the near future.

-Brett