CBB
(1 Pick)
7:00PM EST: Stony Brook +19 (2 Units)
Rick Pitino's St. John's tenure is off to a shaky start after losing to Division 2 Pace in an exhibition game. We don't read too much into that and they were without Soriano anyway. Still, there's a ton of new faces in town for St. Johns. Soriano has been one of the better Bigs in the country and is the only returning starter for the Red Storm. Everyone else has just joined the team which is a good thing considering how bad they were a season ago.
It's not like they reloaded with the Country's best though. Pitino still pulls some weight in the College Ranks but we're far removed from the Golden Pitino era. The BIG East is making a case for a Power 6 in College Basketball but St. John's is still in the middle of the pack in that conference if all goes well. Stony Brook returns it's 2 leading scorers and unlike other smaller schools, they have some Bigs. Center Keenan Fitzmorris is 7FT 250 and forward Chris Maidoh is 6'10 225. Soriano is St. John's best player but Stony Brook can provide some resistance, something not may CAA teams can do.
The best teams in the country that reload with some of the best prospects year after year come out of the gate sluggish as they try to piece it together. The growing pains for St. Johns along with Stony Brooks continuity and uncharacteristic size for a CAA school should allow them to keep this tight enough to cover the number.
