St. John's basketball 2008 Year In Review Part VII-Paris Horne

Part 0: Opening | Part I: Team stats | Part II: Boothe | Part III: Burrell | Part IV: Cavataio | Part V: Dele Coker | Part VI: Sean Evans

Paris Horne

(stats taken from BigEast.org, Statsheet, Ken Pomeroy's Basketball Prospectus, and my own calculations)

2007-2008: Freshman
Position: Guard, Forward
Height: 6-3
Weight: 180 lbs
Age: 20 (08/06/1987)
Home: Middletown, DE

Paris Horne 2007-2008 Highs

Paris Horne, like Mike Cavataio, is hard to evaluate. We know he’s an athlete—and maybe more athlete than basketball player. He played less than 10 minutes 6 times during conference season; and played 15 or more minutes 7 times.

He averaged 12 minutes on the year, and 17.6 minutes a game before conference play.

There was little rhyme or reason to his playing time. One could say that about a few other players on the freshman-laden Red Storm, but Paris’ role was undefined.

Was he the defensive guard?

The change of pace guard?

The three-point shooter?

The slasher?

The finisher?

It’s hard to say. The final game, against West Virginia, was the only game where Horne had the ball and his hands and was asked to create (or created on his own). I don’t know who came up with the idea, and maybe it looked good in practice, but it wasn’t working efficiently that day. Paris went 3-11 in 29 minutes of play, no assists (assists are not a part of his game whatsoever). He did draw 4 foul attempts, which is a benefit of attacking/ slashing play; but it really helps when the slasher actually has a touch around the basket, an issue with DJ Kennedy also.

Since the team doesn’t run very often, the fans never see the best part of Paris Horne’s game – his open court speed and athleticism. They try to run some alley-oops for him, but those fell apart with a combination of imprecise passes and Horne’s inability to match the timing.

His ability to get to the line improved in conference; 27 of his 24 free throw attempts were in Big East play. While his overall field goal percentage went down, Horne’s 3 point shooting percentage went up, even as other players were beginning to show the wear and tear of the longer collegiate season.

Of course, in this is the danger of Horne thinking himself a 3-point shooter. Before conference play, even with the 4-8 game against Niagara, he shot 29.2% from outside the arc; some of these misses included bricks that were half a foot wide of the rim. Nothing like hearing that THUD on television or radio. How did he suddenly get to shoot straight? Is his footwork more consistent? Does he check his feet before he launches? How did he get to shoot 45.5% in conference, while increasing the percentage of 3-point shots he took from 35% to nearly 39%?

Was he improving before our eyes? Or is this a fluke?

Next year, we’ll know the answer. With the limited amount of time he played last year, and rumors of a possible transfer from the St. John’s team, Paris Horne may be a breakout candidate. Not breakout like Sam Young of Pitt or Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, but at least a credible scorer. Or he could be wildly inconsistent. Or he could languish on the bench behind the other guards.

Some fellow fans seem to think that Horne could be a possible back up point guard. I see no evidence for that idea; he doesn’t pass and his turnover rate is the worst out of the players who don’t regularly handle the ball. Wait. Actually, looking at his conference turnover numbers (per 40 minutes), Horne’s turnover rate went down from 4.2 turnovers/ 40 to 2.9 turnovers/ 40. Not great, but much better than where he started. Horne does have some quickness, though he seems less quick with the ball in his hands. But like all the other questions about Paris Horne’s game, we’ll know the answer next year.

Post-script: Man, I wish he – or whoever else did the site – updated Paris Horne.com. Young players with their own website, their own promotional videos? That’s hot, as the more famous Paris likes to say (and trademark). Players only get a few years of college ball stardom, where people cheer them on campus and itch to see their next highlight, before they’re stuck in Poland (Grady Reynolds), or Serbia (Omar Cook) where fans riot during games, or Israel (Marcus Hatten),or some other part of the earth they’ve barely heard of and looks nothing like Queens.