St. John's coach Mike Anderson has high hopes this season

Mike Anderson was unequivocal.

Being competitive is not the goal. Being a tough opponent is not good enough. Not anymore. Not with a roster the coach believes is the most talented he has had in his four years at St. John’s.

The goal is to be among the upper echelon in the Big East and, if all goes well, nationally.  

“We talk about having the opportunity to play in the Big East which I think is going to be a league that’s going to be wide open. There are a lot of teams that are out there that are very good. Guess what? We’re one of those teams,” Anderson said during St. John’s men’s and women’s basketball media Thursday.

A few minutes later, Anderson doubled down. When asked if the program qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018-19 is a reasonable goal, Anderson laid his cards on the table.

“My goal every year,” Anderson said,  “is to win the national championship.”

Whether the 2022-23 edition can win the school’s first men’s NCAA championship will be determined over the course of the next five months. But what Anderson does have are eight players returning from a group that compiled a 17-15 record overall (8-11 in Big East play) and five newcomers, including transfers Andre Curbelo (Long Island Lutheran) and David Jones, and a freshman class (guards Kolby King and AJ Storr, and center Mohamed Keita) he thinks is “kind of underrated.”

All of which are positives. Still the focal point for St. John’s this season will be junior guard Posh Alexander. Following a 2020-21 campaign in which he was the Big East’s Freshman of the Year, a unanimous Big East All-Freshman pick, and shared the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award with Connecticut’s Isaiah Whaley, Post averaged 13.8 points per game and was made an All-Big East honorable mention last season.

Alexander shot .498 from the field in 2021-22, but only made 13 of 60 three-point attempts (.217). In an era of offensive efficiency, that’s not great. It becomes especially problematic when you are a 6-foot combination point guard-slash-shooting guard.

All of which is why the junior spent his summer working on his shot. He believes his shot has improved. But by how much? That is to be determined.

“I’m just waiting for the games to come,” Alexander said. “And my three-point percentage, then that tells how hard I’ve been working.”

Three-point shooting percentage is a tangible statistic. Leadership is an intangible. It cannot be statistically qualified. But it is an area in which Alexander is looking to improve.

“The best version of myself is holding myself accountable,” Alexander said.”Try to become a leader that I wasn’t last year. …Just trying to lead a team, try to help win games.”

If that happens, maybe the 2022-23 edition can live up to Anderson’s lofty aspirations.

While the marker has been laid down by the men’s team, Joe Tartamella is hoping his St. John’s women’s basketball team will provide tough competition in the Big East. The Red Storm women’s team compiled a 12-19 overall record in 2021-22 (7-12 in Big East play).

“Competing is wanting to win,” Tartamella said.