With the landscape of college athletics rapidly changing, no conference has been more affected than the Big East Conference. Several years ago the Big East had 16 members, but things have changed as the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, and Big Ten Conferences have raided the Big East while another conference in the American Athletic Conference was formed which put the icing on the cake. The remaining schools in the Big East are resilient as they are attempting to keep the once proud basketball tradition going. One team that appeared ready to succeed in the new Big East was the St. John’s Red Storm. When the Big East had its heyday in the 1980’s, the Johnnies were one of the top teams. But by the 2000’s, St. John’s had taken a back seat in the Big East to Pittsburgh, Louisville, Syracuse, and Connecticut in basketball. With those powerhouses no longer in the Big East, the Red Storm came into this season looking to reemerge as a power, but for them it didn’t start in that manner.
St. John’s started off Big East Conference play with a record of 0-5 with three of those losses coming by a combined margin of 10 points. On January 18, St. John’s stepped outside of Big East Conference play for a game against Dartmouth. The Red Storm would go on to defeat Dartmouth 69-55 and in the process they appeared to gain some traction. The Johnnies have now reeled of five victories in their last six games to get back into the conversation for the NCAA Tournament.
On January 28, St. John’s traveled to Omaha, Nebraska to take on the then 20th-ranked Creighton Blue Jays. The Red Storm were not expected to be that much competition for the Blue Jays, but they were able to hang with Creighton and only lost by 3 points. St. John’s quickly put the loss to Creighton behind them and on February 1 they defeated the Marquette Golden Eagles at Madison Square Garden 74-59. On February 4 the Johnnies went on the road and they were able to defeat the Providence Friars 86-76. The Red Storm had gained some confidence in their first encounter with Creighton as they prepared for the rematch this past Sunday evening at the Garden. The Blue Jays rolled into the Garden as the 12th-ranked team in the nation, but several hours later they tasted defeat for only the fourth time this season.
St. Johns currently has an overall record of 15-9 while they are 5-6 within the Big East which is good enough for seventh place in the conference.
St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin has made a living on second half runs to the season in his coaching career. For seven years Lavin was the main in charge at Pauley Pavilion for UCLA’s storied basketball program. Lavin was always trying to live up at the lofty expectations at UCLA as some people were constantly calling for him to be fired. But in five of his seven seasons in Los Angeles, Lavin led the Bruins to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The fans in New York City are hopeful that Lavin will have a run like that in him now with St. John’s.
Lavin has been getting contributions up and down the lineup, but none more than St. John’s junior guard D’Angelo Harrison. Harrison is currently leading the Red Storm in scoring at 18.3 per game and he has come up big in this recent surge for the Johnnies. In the Red Storm’s last three games Harrison has averaged 22.9 points per game and it is no coincidence that St. John’s has won each of those contests. Red Storm opponents have been getting acquainted with the “Nigerian Nightmare” in sophomore center Chris Obekpa. At 6’9″, Obekpa is a game changer as his 3.3 blocks per game are ninth in the nation. As a team the Johnnies lead the nation in blocks per game at 8.04.
St. John’s is back in the NCAA Tournament chatter as they are officially on the bubble for March, but for them to get off of the tournament bubble in the right way they cannot take their foot off of the accelerator. St. John’s will be in Newark, New Jersey this Thursday night to take on the Seton Hall Pirates in what could be a NCAA Tournament elimination game for the loser. Next week the Red Storm will host Georgetown and Butler before traveling to Philadelphia to meet sixth ranked Villanova next Saturday in a game that could be a tournament resume builder for them. Then of course there is the Big East Tournament next month at MSG where the winner automatically will have their ticket punched for March.
Unlike years past the Big East will not have 10 teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament. This season it appears that the Big East might get five teams into the field of 68 which makes the stretch run for the Johnnies that more vital. In January, St. John’s was left for dead, but now they appear to have their sea legs and are hopeful for big things in March.
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