Sippin’ on the Haterade: Beware the Red Storm

By BRENDAN HALL
The Big East is by far college basketball’s most dominant and difficult conference. With seven ranked teams and an outstanding 10 teams poised for the NCAA tournament, climbing to the top of the conference is a grueling season-long, uphill battle. However, among all the powerhouses like #5 Pittsburgh or #7 Notre Dame, #15 St. John’s has barreled through the conference and is still overlooked by most.
The Red Storm (19-9, 11-5) have consistently stood up against the brawn of the Big East and beat them. St. John’s has defeated six teams who were all ranked in the top-15 when entering the game, including Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Villanova and even Duke.
What is even more impressive is that these wins weren’t close games at all. The Red Storm beat Notre Dame by 18 points, Duke by 15, Connecticut by 17 and Villanova by 13. Many of them are the best teams in the nation, and Duke was even ranked first at one point, but St. John’s has repeatedly stood their ground and provided upset after upset. But now, with such consistency in winning big games, they can hardly be called upsets.
However, even after handling Villanova, St. John’s is still only ranked 15 in the Coaches Poll. It is unimaginable how a team with such an outstanding resume could be outside the Top Ten. The team had some bad early losses but have been on fire recently, winning eight of their past nine, including wins against Duke and Pittsburgh who were ranked #3 and #4 at the time, respectively.
With only one game left until the end of the regular season, the coaches need to seriously review St John’s’ resume. Although their record doesn’t parallel many of the top-ranked teams, they have proved time and time again that they are a dangerous basketball team who can compete with anyone in the country and are deserving of at least a three seed in the tournament.