Martelli optimistic about young St. Joseph's team's chances

In the three weeks since preseason practice began at St. Joseph's, Phil Martelli has seen sparks from the youngest team he will send on the floor in his 16 seasons as head coach on Hawk Hill.

The question is whether those sparks will ultimately ignite a flame that represents St. Joe's return to its previous status as a perennial contender in the Atlantic Ten Conference.

"There have been times at practice when I don't feel like I'm out there just trying to put a Band-Aid on a wound and hoping," said Martelli, whose Hawks will open their season Friday against Western Kentucky at Hagan Arena. "I'm really excited because there are times when I feel, man, I can't believe that last play or about the way they grasped a concept. You see the spark. They're young, but all of a sudden something happens and you go, that's what I'm talking about, and you hope you can bottle it.

"You can't right now. It's kind of a roller coaster, but it's a gentle roller coaster."

A dramatic turnaround is not likely to occur this season. A combination of recruiting mistakes, defections, and graduation conspired to make the 2009-10 season the most difficult of the Martelli era, and it will take time for the Hawks' youth movement to take hold.

But there is legitimate reason for optimism among St. Joe's fervent followers. Martelli, who needs 11 wins to reach 300, and his staff have assembled what is considered the deepest and most talented freshman class since he became head coach. The roster includes five freshmen who compose the 25th-best class in the nation, according to MaxPreps, and three sophomores, and all are expected to see significant playing time.

"They have a lot of talent, a lot of potential," senior forward Idris Hilliard, the lone returning Hawk to average double figures in scoring (10.2 points a game), said of the freshman class. "They've just got to learn to play the game the right way on the college level, and once they do, the sky is the limit for them."

The five freshmen are: 6-foot-9 forward C.J. Aiken, the Pennsylvania Class AAAA player of the year after an outstanding career at state champion Plymouth Whitemarsh; guards Langston Galloway and Patrick Swilling Jr., AAU teammates from Louisiana; and New Jersey standouts Daryus Quarles from Paulsboro and Ronald Roberts, a 6-8 forward from Bayonne who had committed to St. John's but switched to St. Joe's after coach Norm Roberts (no relation) was fired.