It’s Norm Roberts’ sixth season in Jamaica, and his team is off to its best start yet — 8-1 with quality wins over Temple and Siena and lone loss by nine at Duke, which is more impressive than last season’s 9-1 start with only one quality win — Cornell — in the bunch. Roberts’ teams have been marked by competent defense and inept offense, but with the emergence of an efficient go-to player, the Red Storm have a legitimate opportunity at an NCAA Tournament bid.
When Roberts brought in a large junior class three seasons ago, it was this set of players that figured to make or break his tenure. D.J. Kennedy and Justin Burrell were the two players who appeared most likely to become offensive standouts as freshmen in 2007-08. The team offense was simply wretched, but Kennedy managed to hit 48.5 percent of his 2-pointers and grab a decent share of offensive rebounds. Burrell was much more active in the offense, but his 43 percent 2-point percentage was not a fortuitous sign.
Last season, a new challenger emerged when Paris Horne became a major part of a marginally improved St. John’s offense. Horne was mediocre on his many 3-pointers (33.5 percent on 182 attempts), but like Kennedy the year before, Horne flourised inside the arc, hitting 51.3 percent of his 2-pointers, a terrific figure for a 6-foot-3 guard. Kennedy saw his interior efficiency plummet (43.6 percent on 2’s), but he replaced those misses with a lot of made free throws. Burrell hit a few more of his 2’s (45.0 percent) but continued to struggle with turnovers, especially for a player not asked to handle the ball.
This season, with his team in need of a go-to scorer, Kennedy has been nothing short of phenomenal. He’s been about 20 percent more active in the offense and still much more efficient at the same time. The key has been his ability to get to the line. He hits 79 percent of his free throws and gets fouled about six times per 40 minutes on the floor. Kennedy has also gotten his 2-point percentage back up — to 61.4 percent — and has even shown range from deep, knocking down threes at a 44.8-percent rate, this after making exactly one-third of his 3-point attempts in each of his first two seasons. Read More
