The Atlantic 10 champion Saint Joseph's men's basketball team opens play in the 2016 NCAA Tournament when it takes on Cincinnati on Friday evening at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Game time is 9:57 p.m. Eastern time with the broadcast on TruTV.
ARENA: Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena (12,210)
TELEVISION: TruTV (Spero Dedes, Doug Gottlieb, Ros Gold-Onwude)
RADIO: 990 AM (Matt Martucci, Joe Lunardi); Westwood One (Kevin Calabro, Dan Dickau)
VIDEO STREAMING: March Madness Live - WATCH
AUDIO STREAMING: Westwood One, Sirius Ch. 145, XM Ch. 204 - LISTEN
SJU STREAK: 3 wins
NEXT POSSIBLE GAME: Mar. 20 vs. Oregon/Holy Cross-Southern
Postseason Guide/Notes
GAME NOTES
• Senior Isaiah Miles was named the Most Oustanding Player of the Atlantic 10 Championship as Saint Joseph's earned its second crown in the past three years. DeAndre' Bembry and Aaron Brown joined him on the All-Championship Team.
• SJU is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years. The Hawks were the 10th seed in 2014 and fell to eventual national champion Connecticut in overtime.
• The Hawks are ranked this week (25th in USA Today) for the first time since April 2004, when SJU was ranked fifth in the final AP Poll after advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight.
• Phil Martelli has guided Saint Joseph's to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, the most for any coach in school history.
• Saint Joseph's RPI is currently 21, its highest of the season.
LAST TIME OUT: For the second time in three seasons, fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's topped second-seeded VCU, 87-74, to capture the Atlantic 10 Championship. Two seasons ago, the fourth-seeded Hawks beat second-seeded VCU, 65-61, also at the Barclays Center. DeAndre' Bembry led all scorers with 30 points while Isaiah Miles, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, scored 26 points and added 12 rebounds. Senior Aaron Brown joined the pair on the All-Championship Team, chipping in with 13 points, including 10 in the first half, while Lamarr Kimble dished out a career-high nine assists.
HE THIRD'S A CHARM: Saint Joseph's captured its fourth A-10 title in the program's history and the second in three years last weekend. It is the third under head coach Phil Martelli, who led the Hawks to titles in 1997, 2014 and 2016.
HISTORY MAKERS: At 27-7, the Hawks have posted the second best season in school history, behind the 2003-04 NCAA Elite Eight squad which holds the school record with a 30-2 mark. There have been four teams that notched 26 wins - 1964-65, 1985-86, 1996-97 and 2000-01.
400 CLUB: Head coach Phil Martelli earned the 400th win of his 21-year career with the victory over George Washington in the A-10 Quarterfinals. Martelli currently ranks 35th for career victories among current Division I head coaches and became the 121st coach in NCAA history to record 400-plus wins. He also became just the sixth coach to achieve the feat at one school, joining Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Bob McKillop (Davidson), Mark Few (Gonzaga) and Dave Loos (Austin Peay) as active coaches who have spent their careers with one program and have recorded 400-plus wins.
TWO-TIMERS: There are six Hawks who have been part of the two A-10 Championship teams - DeAndre' Bembry, Isaiah Miles, Papa Ndao, Javon Baumann, Brendan Casper and student assistant Kyle Molock. Phil Martelli actually has been a part of four A-10 titles - three as head coach and one as an assistant (1986). Current assistant coach Geoff Arnold was a player on that team and has three titles as well.
TOP HAWKS: DeAndre' Bembry was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, becoming the fifth Hawk to earn the conference's top honor and the first to achieve it since Ahmad Nivins in 2008-09. Isaiah Miles was honored for his breakout season with the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award. He is the third Hawk to receive that honor and the first since Delonte West in 2002-03. Bembry was also an All-Conference First Team selection for the second year in a row and was named to the All-Defensive Team. Miles was chosen to the All-Conference Second Team, earning All-League honors for the first time in his career. Freshman Lamarr Kimble was chosen to the All-Rookie Team, becoming SJU's first player selected to that squad since Bembry earned the recognition in 2013-14. Bembry and Miles join an impressive list of SJU players who have received those awards:
MORE ON THE HONOREES: DeAndre' Bembry has made his mark as one of the top all-around players in the nation. He is averaging 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds as well as team-highs of 4.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He has scored in double figures in 33 games, with eight double-doubles, and ranks among the A-10's leaders in seven categories. Isaiah Miles made one of the most dramatic improvements in Saint Joseph's history, becoming the Hawks' leading scorer and rebounder. He is averaging 18.4 points and 8.1 rebounds, totals that are an increase of seven points and three rebounds from his junior year. The senior has scored in double figures in all 34 games, a school record, with 10 double-doubles and 12 games of 20-plus points. Lamarr Kimble has shared time at point guard this season, coming off the bench to average 6.0 points, 2.6 assists and just 1.2 turnovers per game, while scoring double figures 10 times.
SJU AND SPOKANE: Saint Joseph's is very familiar with Spokane, but its last appearance was rather forgettable. When the Hawks visited on November 19, 2014 to play Gonzaga in the NIT Season Tip-Off. SJU shot just 10 percent in the first half and Gonzaga led 48-10 at halftime. The Zags increased it to 60-11 in the first few minutes of the second half and then led by 53 points in the second half en route to the 94-42 win, handing SJU its largest defeat in school history. The Hawks and Zags have played some closer and more classic games here in Spokane, however. Gonzaga pulled out a 102-94 win on New Year's Eve 2005 while the Hawks won a 79-78 overtime thriller on New Year's Eve 2002.
IT'S NICE TO BE BACK: SJU is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three years, with its highest seeding since 2004. After earning the A-10's automatic bid in 2014, SJU was a #10 seed and faced #7 seed Connecticut. The Hawks gave the Huskies all they could handle, taking them to overtime before falling, 89-81, and starting UConn's national championship run. Saint Joseph's was a #11 seed in the East in 2008 in Birmingham where it lost to Blake Griffin's Oklahoma team. Saint Joseph's last NCAA Tournament win came on March 25, 2004 when the number-one seeded Hawks defeated Wake Forest in the regional semifinal in East Rutherford, N.J. SJU then fell to Oklahoma State, 64-62, in the regional final, to end the memorable 30-2 season. SJU was last in the West Region was in 2001 when the ninth-seeded Hawks defeated Georgia Tech but then lost to Stanford.
TURNING IT AROUND: The Hawks have gone from a sub-.500 team in 2014-15 (13-18) to posting the second-best record in school history (27-7). DeAndre' Bembry is obviously a catalyst, and understands the magnitude of the accomplishment. “[We were] one of the worst teams in the A-10 last year. We're just happy that 80 percent of the guys that were on that team last year [are] on this team. I'm happy to see that we went through the struggles together and now we're going through the highs together.”
THE SINGLE LIFE: DeAndre' Bembry saw his 35-game double-figure scoring streak come to an end vs. Dayton when he had nine points. But the unselfish star still contributed seven rebounds and eight assists while his fellow upperclassmen scored the points. Isaiah Miles had 26 points, Aaron Brown scored 16 and Papa Ndao had a career-high 14. The end of Bembry's streak allowed Miles to earn the school record for double-figure games in a season with 34.
AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE: A-10 Player of the Year DeAndre' Bembry is one of five finalists for the 2016 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, which is given by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. The other finalists are: Brandon Ingram (Duke), Wayne Selden, Jr. (Kansas), Ben Simmons (LSU) and Denzel Valentine (Michigan State). The winner will be determined by a combination of fan votes and input from the selection committee.
CAREER MILES: Isaiah Miles became the 53rd 1,000-point scorer in Saint Joseph's history, when he scored his 18th point in the Duquesne game. It is a remarkable feat considering that the senior entered this year with 444 points in three seasons combined and has now scored 626 in this year alone. He has 1,070 career points, while the 626 points is the fifth highest single-season total in school history.
POLLING PLACE: The Hawks cracked the top 25 this week (March 14) in the USA Today Coaches Poll and are ranked 25th. It marks the first time since April 7, 2004 that SJU has been ranked. Saint Joseph's also received votes in the AP Poll this week, and has been garnering votes in both polls since Jan. 4.
DEAN OF COACHES: Phil Martelli is the dean of A-10 coaches in his 21st season as the head coach of the Hawks with a 402-272 career record. He owns a 198-142 record in Atlantic 10 play for the most conference wins of any active coach, and the second most all-time. Martelli has guided the Hawks to three Atlantic 10 titles (2016, 2014, 1997) and to 13 post-season appearances, the most of any SJU coach.
ON TARGET: In the past five games, DeAndre' Bembry has converted 61.8 percent of his two-point field goal attempts, hitting 34-for-55. He shot 13-for-16 from the field in the championship game win over VCU.
GETTING IT DONE: ESPN.com ranked Phil Martelli's effort this year as the ninth best coaching performance of the season. The Hawks' mentor has guided them to 14 more wins than last season to go along with the A-10 title and the 13th postseason bid.
EXCLUSIVE LIST: DeAndre' Bembry is just one of three players in the nation to average over 17 points, 7.5 rebounds and four assists per game. The others are Ben Simmons of LSU and Denzel Valentine of Michigan State. Bembry, however, is the only player in the nation to post those numbers and average less than 2.5 turnovers per game.
MOST IMPROVED HAWKS: SJU owns the third-biggest improvement in the nation from last season (as of March 13), according to the NCAA. The improvement is determined by adding the difference in win total and loss total from last year to this year and then dividing by two.
ROAD WARRIORS: SJU had the nation's only undefeated road record until the loss at Davidson on Jan. 31 and finished the year with a 10-1 mark on the road. The best road record for a Saint Joseph's team was 13-0 by the 2003-04 Elite Eight squad.
NET NEUTRALITY: The Hawks have played seven neutral site games, with two in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena (Florida, ODU), four at the Barclays Center with the ACC-Atlantic 10 doubleheader (Virginia Tech) and three A-10 tourney games, and one against St. Bonaventure in Rochester. Counting the 10-1 road record, the Hawks are 15-3 away from Hagan Arena.
TALE OF THE TOURNEY: The Hawks placed three players on the A-10 All-Championship Team - Isaiah Miles, DeAndre' Bembry and Aaron Brown. Miles averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 94.1 percent (16-for-17) from the foul line in earning Most Outstanding Player honors. Bembry averaged 20.0 points and 6.0 rebounds, while hitting 57.1 percent from the field. Brown hit for 16.0 points and connected on 84.2 percent of his free throw attempts.
