The St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team hired a new coach in the offseason looking to get back to the NCAA Tournament. They hired Steve Lavin, the former UCLA coach who has been to many NCAA Tournaments in the past. The team was greatly hyped before the season started and everyone thought this would be the year St. John's men's basketball would be back on the map. The team is off to a 7-3 start with tough losses to St. Mary's, St. Bonaventure, and Fordham. The Johnnies are piling up tournament victories though, winning both in-season tournaments they have been in.
The first of the two was in Alaska and it was called the Great Alaska Shootout. The 8-team tournament has been held annually every Thanksgiving since 1978. The seven teams in it besides St. John's were: Arizona State, Drake, Ball State, Weber State, University of Alaska-Anchorage, Southern Utah, and Houston Baptist. St. John's played Ball State and then Drake to get to the championship game. The Ball State game was a close game with the Red Storm winning 78-73 while the Drake game was a blowout with the Red Storm winning 82-39. The Johnnies played Arizona State in tournament finale, beating them 67-58. This was St. John's first tournament win since 2005.
The second of the two happened over the last couple of days in New York City at Madison Square Garden. The tournament is called the Holiday Festival at MSG. This tournament is small and consisted of Davidson, St. Francis (NY), and Northwestern besides St. John's. St. John's beat Davidson on Monday, 62-57, to advance to the championship game. Unbeaten Northwestern also made it to the final. But facing an undefeated opponent did not phase the Red Storm as they won their first Holiday Festival since 2005, 85-69.
It was the first time St. John's won two in-season tournaments since the legendary Lou Carnesecca led the then-Redmen to victories at the Lapchick Memorial and Cougar Classic.
The Johnnies have 7 wins overall, 5 of them coming in tournaments. They are currently unbeaten during tournament play and they look great during games that matter. This could bode well for the team when they face the other teams of the tough Big East, which currently boasts 5 teams in the Top 10. This is starting to look like the year St. John's goes somewhere in the men's basketball category of sports. If they keep up this championship mentality, then there is no stopping them.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Alaska_Shootout#Men.27s_Tournament
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303292599
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303302181
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303312599
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303542599
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303552599
No comments:
Post a Comment