PHILADELPHIA -- Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli could have had coaches fill all 3,200 seats at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse and it wouldn't have mattered.

The few Philadelphia coaches who came by Sunday couldn't teach what Jameer Nelson and Marvin O'Connor can and will do in the backcourt this season.

This stuff is all instinct.

	Marvin O'Connor proved to the nation last March he can take over a game.

"They need each other," Martelli said. "Marvin needs Jameer to deliver the ball to scoring areas where he only has to break down one man. And Jameer is much more of a point and distributor that he needs Marvin to finish plays for him. They have total respect for each other's game. They don't have to do all this lovin' stuff. But when you start with respect, they fit together."

How many pure, remember that's absolutely 100-percent pure, point guards (not combo point/shooting guards like Duke's Jason Williams and Chris Duhon or Boston College's Troy Bell) can do what Nelson does at the point?

The list starts with Illinois' Frank Williams, and that's probably where it ends.

The 6-foot (possibly a generous height) sophomore plays the point with so much strength compacted into a piston of a body. He's demonstrative with the basketball and has unrivaled confidence in every move at both ends of the court.

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	College SportsCentury will profile Marvin O'Connor on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

In a series of scrimmages, Nelson was on full display with his one-step-ahead-of-everyone bounce passes and one-handed zip passes like the three-quarters court heave to a sprinting Bill Phillips, or a watch-your-head, pound the ball first and throw the ball through the middle of the lane pass to a cutting Damian Reid for a dunk.

"You're going to feel it the next day if you don't have your hands up, because of how hard he hits me," Reid said. "He's got an advantage over other point guards because not only are his feet fast but his mind is real fast. He sees the game almost like Magic (Johnson). He's only a sophomore, so it's scary what he'll be like by the time he's finished."

Then there are Nelson's drives to the basket and his need for absorbing body contact, and his uncanny ability to finish the play with a layup and a likely foul. But more on that later. We haven't even gotten to the relentless on-the-ball defense that made every guard on the gold-medal U.S. World Championship team last July say that Nelson (12.5 ppg, 6.5 apg) will have even more of a breakthrough season than anyone else on the star-studded team.

	“	They need each other. ... They have total respect for each other's game. They don't have to do all this lovin' stuff. But when you start with respect, they fit together." ”
		— Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph's head coach

And then there's O'Connor (22.1 ppg). The 6-4 senior pure shooting guard lit up Stanford with 37 points in a second-round NCAA Tournament loss -- a performance that's more likely to happen most nights, than not.

O'Connor's silky smooth 3s, created by Nelson's first steps that may start with a crossover dribble, are hard to contain. O'Connor has limitations and when he doesn't shoot well (see: USA Basketball Trials in Colorado Springs in May when he didn't make the World University Games team) then he can look rather mundane. But that's not too often, especially now that the tendonitis in his left patella tendon has subsided.

"It was frustrating, but I knew that playing in the winter time was more important than the summer," O'Connor said of the injury. "My strength is coming along and I can't wait to get out there for real (in games)."

O'Connor doesn't have to worry. He's ready. Both guards are in March form. It wasn't this quick last season, but the bonding between the two of them came soon enough.

"There were a couple of times early last year where these guys weren't ready for the passes and I wasn't recognizing it early enough," Nelson said. "It was bad court awareness on my part."

But there was no tension between Nelson and O'Connor, or anyone else. Reid said he thought there would be controversies between the two, but was amazed when there was no turmoil.

"The reason this works is we (Nelson and O'Connor) get along so well off the court," Nelson said.

"We just understand each other's talents," O'Connor said. "He knows where I want the ball. It certainly helps that he passes first and shoots second. It's beyond me how he gets people in the game, especially the guys in the frontcourt. He takes a lot of pressure off me so I don't have to do as much."

	Contact isn't a problem for the diminutive Jameer Nelson.

This clear, St. Joe's backcourt is relentless in its pursuit of points. Nelson is looking O'Connor first, senior wing Na'im Crenshaw second, Phillips, Reid and Alexandre Sazonov third (whoever has a layup) and then himself last. But that's only if Nelson's defender isn't giving him a step to the basket. If he is, he's taking him.

"What makes them so good is that they push the ball so hard and attack," Phillips said. "They won't wait for a defense, they make the defense react to them."

All Reid said he has to do is get the rebound, outlet the ball to Nelson and run. He did that in a scrimmage and ended up with a one-handed jam on a break by getting the ball in stride at the free-throw line.

"That's how I get easy baskets," Reid said. "I wouldn't be where I am without him. Marvin is also always looking to dish the ball."

If there's a flaw it might be on defense, at least for O'Connor.

"Marvin is so instant to get to offense. But, if we have a possession left in the game and we need to shut someone down, I'd be willing to bet that it isn't coming from the perimeter with Marvin, Jameer and Na'im Crenshaw," Martelli said.

Martelli said Nelson plays the point the way Naismith decided the position was supposed to be played.

And O'Connor?

"He wins," Martelli said.

"I'm not silly to say they're the best," Martelli said. "They're one of the best, and they have to be on the table for discussion. Maybe you can question Jameer's shooting stroke or Marvin's decision making, but you're splitting hairs to me. The Duke (Williams and Duhon) and Illinois (Frank Williams and Cory Bradford) backcourts and these kids are the best. I was around Frank Williams and Duhon with USA Basketball.

"(But) if there's some other backcourt out there better than these three, then they must be pretty damn good."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.