Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The St. John’s Red Storm did not meet expectations in the 2012-13 college basketball season, but they are all set to be an NCAA tournament team in the upcoming season. Although Jakarr Sampson is not the only good player on the team–not even close for that matter–the college hoops world better watch out for him in the 2013-14 season.
As a freshman, Sampson averaged 14.9 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game. D’Angelo Harrison may get a lot of buzz on this team–as he should–but Sampson could really take off as a sophomore.
He gets plenty of attempts (13.6 per game) and if he could just increase his 44.9 percent from the field, he could really put up some big numbers in the scoring department. I mean, he did average almost 15 points per game as a freshman.
Sampson also averaged 1.1 assists per game, 1.1 blocks per game and 1.1 steals per game.
There will be plenty of talent around him, so it is not like he will have to carry the team or anything like that. Steve Lavin is also the coach and although this team has not really met expectations since he has taken over, Lavin has the program heading in the right direction.
The Big East will be a completely different conference this year and Marquette and Georgetown will likely be the favorites to challenge for a conference title, but the Red Storm cannot be counted out yet, especially since the season is still a long way away. A big reason for this is because of Sampson and he should be even better in his sophomore season.
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