The St. Johns Men’s basketball team has finally made the NCAA tournament after many years of being irrelevant, but the NCAA committee must think they still are not essential based on their seeding.
This past Saturday night, Madison Square Garden was electric! Once known as the mecca of basketball, the arena hasn’t seen any excitement in years due to the Knicks being dormant. But Saturday night, the school, which basketball fans feel is the most critical team in college basketball in the NY metro area, became relevant again.
St John’s, once the darlings of college ball and led by the late coach Lou Carnessecca, has not been good for a very, very long time. In 1985, when I was a wee lad, the Johnnies, led by Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, advanced to the final four. The team was still a top player in the vaunted Big East Conference for years after that.
However, as time passed, Canessecca retired, and the team and its program fell into hard times. Most high school stars chose to play at out-of-state schools instead of staying close to home. Recruiting fell flat, and the school went through numerous head coaches who had little success.
The program received almost no exposure on local TV, and it was assumed they would never be top dog again. That was until St. Johns made a brilliant move and brought in the legend Rick Pitino last year.
Almost instantly, the school program started to change. Thanks to Pitino’s name recognition and his recruiting prowess, the school suddenly started to see some good players play for them. The transfer portal didn’t hurt, either. After a first season of slight improvement this year, the team and its program took off. Going into the Big East tournament, the Red Storm were ranked sixth in the country with an impressive 27-4 record.
The Big East Conference tournament was their next challenge. The team had not won this tournament in 25 years!! But that was then, and this is now. After wins versus Butler and a gritty Marquette team, St Johns took on Creighton in the finals. After trailing by over 10 in the first half, St Johns rallied to defeat the Blue Jays and win the crown!
St. Johns is now back! It won its first tourney title in 25 years. NY is buzzing again, fans wearing St. John’s gear throughout the city. All was good in the world, and expectations were that the team would be a number 2 seed in the NCAA tourney.
Well, here is where I get annoyed at the NCAA. Yes, St John’s was given a two-seed in the tourney. You would think the conference committee would put them in a bracket close to NY so fans could support the team, right? That is not the case.
The committee chose to put the team in the West bracket. The first and second rounds are in Providence, Rhode Island, which is not too far. If the Johnnies advance, they have to play in the regional finals. Those finals will be in San Francisco, California! It doesn’t get any further away from NY than California in this country, now, does it?
But it gets worse. St Johns will play their first game this Thursday night. You would think that since it’s the NY market, the NCAA would say, “Hey, let’s play this game in prime time for a lot of eyes to see.” St Johns is scheduled to play their game at 9:45 p.m.! That means tip-off probably won’t be until after 10 p.m.!
Do you think parents are letting their little kids stay up that late on a school night to see the game? Heck, do you think people like myself or others with 9-5 jobs can stay up that late?
How they don’t have their game against Omaha at 7 or 8 p.m. is beyond me! This really makes me angry. It’s in New York, where you have more fans than anywhere else! St Johns hasn’t even made the tourney since 2019. They are led by a hall-of-fame coach! But hey, it’s okay. Let’s shove the team out west and play their game as late as we can! What a joke!
It’s a shame because the team is a great story. They play a smothering defense, and although most experts see Florida, Auburn, or Duke as favorites, defense wins championships. No other team plays better defense than the Red Storm, and I feel they have a legit shot to make their first championship game final since 1952!
If you are a Red Storm fan or Alma Mater like I am, I have some advice for you. Grab some melatonin and get a lot of sleep before Thursday night. Also, check with your airline about frequent flyer miles in case we need to travel across the US. We need to support the Red Storm as much as we can, even if the NCAA has tried to make them irrelevant! Bad job, NCAA!
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