Big Five Preview: Saint Joseph's

This is the fourth installment in a daily feature this week as we preview each Big Five team, their prospects for the upcoming season, and how they will fare in the Big Five as well as their respective conference.

Today we preview the Saint Joseph's Hawks, last season's runner-up in the Atlantic 10.

The Basic Information

Conference: Atlantic 10
Last Season: 18-11
Post Season: #11 seed in NCAA tournament, lost in first round to #6 seed Oklahoma, 72-64.

When we last saw the Hawks in action, they rallied to give the Oklahoma Sooners a scare, but ultimately lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Names

Head Coach: Phil Martelli (261-152)
Key Player: Ahmad Nivins

Outlook

While Phil Martelli's group will have to fill a couple key spots left by a pair of departing players, the Hawks should be able to build on some success from a year ago. Though the Hawks started out 15-5, injuries decimated the team en route to an 18-15 finish.

Still though the Hawks went to the A-10 championship game, losing to rival Temple, and played Oklahoma tough in the first round of the tournament. Martelli, if anyone can, will take the lessons learned from a year ago and use that to help this year's team grow. The Hawks should be a contender in the Atlantic 10 again this year, although Xavier will be the favorite and the league will be deeper than it was a year ago.

Ahmad Nivins will be the guy who sets the tone for the Hawks this year. Tasheed Carr and Darrin Govens return to bring back the starting backcourt from last year. Garrett Williamson will see more playing time, as he was the sixth man a year ago. Martelli will expect Williamson to contribute more this season with more time.

The Schedule

The Hawks will be playing their home games at The Palestra this season, as their home court undergoes renovation. That doesn't bother the Hawks or their fans. The student section can be one of the most intimidating in sports.



St. Joe's, like most Philadelphia teams, will play anybody anywhere. That is exactly what the Hawks will do this year.

After a pair of games against Rider (at the Wachovia Center) and Holy Cross the Hawks will fly to Maui for the 2008 EA Sports Maui Invitational, one of the most talented early season tournaments out there.

In the first round the Hawks will face national title contender Texas, followed by either Notre Dame or Indiana. The other teams participating in this year's tournament are North Carolina, Oregon, Alabama, and the host school Chaminade.

The A-10 sent three teams to the big tournament last year for the first time in a few years. It will be important for the Hawks to give their tournament resume a little pizazz early on and this could be just the ticket. Winning a few games here against some tough competition, as well as a future bubble team or two, would be key. Winning the tournament would vault them in to the top 25 polls for sure.

After that the schedule is a lot easier, playing teams such as Ball State, Cornell, Siena, Towson and Lehigh. Aside from the Big Five games one key game to mark on the calendar is December 6 against Creighton. Creighton could be a team in the mix for a tournament bid, but unless they win their conference they will be a bubble team. A win over the Jays would be nice to add on that tournament resume as well.

Big Five Outlook

Expect the Hawks to be in the running for the Big Five title this year. They should be one of the toughest teams in the group and only have to play two games away form The Palestra.

As mentioned in the Penn preview, both Penn and St. Joe's have their meeting at The Palestra marked as a home game. The Hawks travel to Villanova and play a home and home with the Temple Owls. The LaSalle game will be held at The Palestra. I am unaware as to which one will count in the Big Five standings.

Blogosphere

Finding a St. Joe's basketball blog was downright near impossible. If you know of a good Hawks blog let me know! For now you will have to accept this generic Big Five blog by Jonathan Tannenwald, Soft Pretzel Logic.

Coming Up

One final preview to go, and it will be on the defending Atlantic 10 champions, the Temple Owls. That will be up after lunch time, despite recent hopes of getting it up before lunch. A man has to eat, right?

Monday: Villanova Wildcats
Tuesday: LaSalle Explorers
Wednesday: Penn Quakers
Friday: St. Joe's Hawks
Friday: Temple Owls (also a Big Five prediction)