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| Opponent | |
| Date |
Saturday, December 6
|
| KenPom Ranking |
11
|
| KenPom Predicted Win % |
21.0%
|
| Location |
Away
|
| Venue |
Syracuse, N.Y. (Carrier Dome)
|
| Time |
5:15 p.m.
|
| 2013-14 Record |
28-6
|
| Key Players |
Tyler Roberson (6'8" F, So.); Trevor Cooney (6'4" G, Jr.); Rakeem Christmas (6'8" F, Sr.)
|
| Key Newcomers |
Kaleb Joseph (6'3" PG); Chris McCullough (6'11" F)
|
| Key Losses |
Tyler Ennis (6'2" PG); C.J. Fair (6'8" F); Jerami Grant (6'8" F)
|
St. John's travels to Syracuse - a city that is supposedly in New York State but many* believe to be a southern outpost of Canada - to renew the "rivalry" against the Orange, former members of the Big East but now inland members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Jim Boeheim's team has talent, but is very young at key positions as well. It's likely that the "key players" for the team will change over the months before ACC play.
Trevor Cooney is the familiar face, and will need to be the leader on court with Rakeem Christmas, but the Orange will be led again by a freshman point guard, Kaleb Joseph from New Hampshire.
St. John's fans will remember the name Chris McCullough, a coveted Bronx forward who is close to Dwight Hardy who chose to go Orange rather than Red.
The Orange have a number of talented players looking to emerge from the shadows as well, including likely starting small forward Tyler Roberson, junior Michael Gbinije, sophomore forward B.J. Johnson, sophomore guard Ron Patterson, and redshirt freshman Chinoso Obokoh.
If you believe in the college sophomore leap - and you should - this team has a lot of surprises in store.
*no one really believes this. But there is that upstate/ downstate divide, so... we'll just run with that statement.