Hawk Weaknesses

With the season almost upon us many SJU fans are asking where are the Hawks weakest this season and where can we expect them to fall short. The team unfortunately lacks veteran leadership, perimeter shooting, and the ability to rebound.  

The most apparent area where St. Joe’s falls short is in veteran leadership. The team only has two returning starters for the season in Chris Wilson and DeAndre Bembry. As we all know the team thrived last season from the veteran leadership, it will be big shoes to fill with the team missing Langston, Halill, and Ron. The lack of veteran leadership might force Phil to be more vocal in the locker room. Last year not only the three captains, but all the seniors would speak their mind during half-time. DeAndre Bembry mention that Darius Quarles was vocal at half time during the University of Rhode Island game going into half-time behind. Chris Wilson is an ultimate team player and leads by example. While Chris is always doing the right thing, DeAndre is a player that will lead the team with scoring and performance. Like last year, captains are not the only ones that can make a difference. Look for Aaron Brown to be vocal player. He is another team player, which is evident by his patience after sitting out last year due to transferring and only playing a limited role at WVU. It is also likely that this team may take a few games to play together and run the court as a unit. However, the leadership on this team should bring the team together within a few games.   

Going off of that fact, there is another form of weakness that was created from losing Langston and that is in perimeter shooting. Langston provided the team with a great amount of confidence to shoot the ball from three when it was most needed. The perimeter shooting is going to have to come from Bembry, Wilson, and Miles. Bembry and Miles are the main perimeter possibilities. Wilson is not a consistent perimeter shooter, although he is successful when he is not under pressure. It is simply not likely that the team will be able to recreate last year’s perimeter shooting success. Langston Galloway is one of a kind and is even a better shooter than a majority of NBA players that play the shooting guard position. This upcoming season the Hawks will have to find new and different ways to score points to make up for the missing perimeter shooting. Another weakness the team will face is the fact that they have inexperience underneath the basket.

With the loss of both Halil and Ron, the ability to rebound may have gone out of Hawk Hill with them. This team is going to have real problems rebounding and creating points from underneath. Javon Bauman and Jai Williams will be big men that will have the responsibility of rebounding this upcoming year. This team is a very young and talented team, which has the potential to become outstanding in the near future.

-Brett and Glen