Since the turn of the century, St. John’s basketball has only gone to the NCAA tournament in four out of 16 years. Does that change in 2017-18?
The last time St. John’s made the Big Dance was in 2014 when Steve Lavin was in charge. However, there was a feeling of underachievement within the program so the administration swapped Lavin for former NBA and St. John’s legend Chris Mullin.
The first two years of the Mullin era has shown both promise and struggle. Last season was a difficult one for the team, but hopefully, the team is able to take the next step.
The non-conference slate involved a bunch of losses, including those to LIU Brooklyn and Delaware State. All seemed lost until they pulled off a stunning blowout victory at Syracuse.
That momentum continued into conference play, winning the first two games against No. 13 Butler and at DePaul. That was followed up by losing five of six and ending the season with a losing record of 14-19 (7-11).
The biggest sign of hope was the underclassmen guard tandem of Marcus LoVett, and Shamorie Ponds. The entire roster was expected to be coming back, but a pair of players in Malik Ellison and Darien Williams chose to transfer.
To make matters worse a couple of international youngsters in Federico Mussini and Richard Freudenberg both elected to forego the rest of their eligibility to play professionally overseas, destroying their depth.
Every time the team seems like they’re turning the corner, things happen to pull them back. But there’s still some room for optimism for this team, starting with their lead guards.