St. John’s can show it’s true March contender by surviving upcoming gauntlet
Starting Saturday afternoon against Villanova, St. John’s can deliver a statement to their doubters. Send a warning sign to the Big East.
nypost.com
By Zach Braziller
VILLANOVA, Pa. — There have been signs of progress, glimpses of potential, hints of March promise.
The win over Utah to cap the Charleston Classic. Commanding Big East victories at home over Butler and Xavier. The narrow loss at fourth-ranked Connecticut.
Those performances helped offset dismal losses to Michigan and Boston College, as well as the frustrating setback to Dayton. They have given this starved St. John’s fan base a reason to start believing in this group.
Starting Saturday afternoon against Villanova at Finneran Pavilion just outside of Philadelphia, Rick Pitino’s Johnnies can convince them. They can deliver a statement to their doubters. Send a warning sign to the Big East.
Over the next month, St. John’s will play eight games. Six of them will be Quad 1 opportunities. Three of them will be against ranked foes Marquette, UConn and Providence, all at Madison Square Garden. Two of them will be at Creighton and Seton Hall, places where St. John’s rarely wins. It is, without question, a gauntlet.
Villanova might not have star guard Justin Moore (sprained right knee) available Saturday. Providence just lost junior star forward Bryce Hopkins for the season to a torn ACL. St. John’s (10-4, 2-1), however, is dealing with its own injury issues.
Uber-talented wing RJ Luis (shin splints) and starting power forward Chris Ledlum (sprained ankle) are both question marks to play Saturday, sources told The Post.
Neither was able to practice Friday, though Luis has only been taking part in workouts on a limited basis. Luis missed three weeks with his injury before returning for the last three games. Ledlum missed last Saturday’s win over Hofstra but returned in the win over Butler, notching 13 points and 11 rebounds despite playing at only 70 percent, according to Pitino.
Obviously not having either player would be significant, but this is the best point guard Daniss Jenkins has looked all year, producing 40 assists and just eight turnovers over the past six games. Joel Soriano has been one of the best centers in the country, a double-double machine averaging 17.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks, and reserve guard Nahiem Alleyne has come on as an integral part of this team.
St. John’s defense has taken major leaps of late, going from 127th in efficiency to 63rd in the span of five games. It has begun to look like the team that received preseason Top-25 consideration.
But now we really get to see what this group is made of. There are no soft landing spots. One quality opponent after another. Challenges stacked upon challenges. The seven teams it will play in these eight games are all ranked in the top 80 of the NET, and five are in the top 30.
“We’re ready,” Soriano said. “I like the way we’ve been practicing, the way we’ve been playing games. I feel like we’re pretty much ready. I like how we handled the UConn game. We could’ve done the little things differently, even though I feel like we should’ve won that game.
“Really, I don’t have any doubt in my mind we’re going to be all right in this stretch. I feel like we’re going to do better than what [most people] expect, to be honest with you.”
There is a lot of history working against St. John’s. It last beat Villanova at its on-campus arena in 1993 and has knocked off Seton Hall at Prudential Center just once, in 2014 when a blizzard led to an empty arena, owning a 1-11 record in the Newark arena. It hasn’t started a Big East season at over .500 through five games since the 2010-11 campaign. It has lost a combined eight straight meetings against Marquette and Creighton, two of the teams it will face during this daunting stretch.
Now, Pitino wasn’t coaching any of those teams. Only Soriano and Drissa Traore were Johnnies before this winter. The players don’t have the scars that the fans do.
“I’m very excited, happy to go to Philly, happy to go to Nebraska, happy to go to Jersey,” Soriano said. “This is Big East basketball. This is what you prepare for all summer.”
Still, there remain doubts. Unanswered questions. While it is early, St. John’s is on the NCAA Tournament bubble, according to most Bracketology projections. It owns one Quad 1 win, the victory over Utah, though it does have Quad 2 wins over Butler, Xavier and North Texas. It has strong metrics, ranked 45th in the NET and 42nd by KenPom.com.
It has shown significant improvement in recent weeks, reasons to believe the Johnnies are prepared to not only face the best the league has to offer, but beat them. Starting Saturday, this fascinating St. John’s season reaches a pivotal period.
By the end of this stretch, Feb. 3 against UConn, St. John’s will know much more about where it stands. If it is a March contender or pretender. A factor near the top of the Big East or a team just trying to survive this landmine of a conference.
We’re going to learn a lot over the next few weeks about Rick Pitino’s first team in Queens.
