NCAA Basketball Buy or Sell: Where do St. John’s and Seton Hall stand?

St. John’s Red Storm – Buy

The Red Storm have all the makings of a tournament team.  Coach Chris Mullin has guided his squad to a 14-1 record out of the gate. That record does not have much substance. In the early part of the schedule, the Red Storm did not challenge themselves much. Their best wins were against ACC bottom dweller Georgia Tech and against an Atlantic 10 team in VCU. Coach Mullin did guide his team to an undefeated non-conference record, which, no matter who you play, is difficult.

As the Red Storm entered conference play, many questions arose as to how this team would perform. The questions were surrounding the weak level of competition, and St. John’s struggled at times to win those games, some nights trailing late before making a miraculous comeback. In their first game in their league, the Red Storm were defeated by Seton Hall on the road, and this time the Red Storm blew a huge lead. Outside of a very controversial call on an inbounds play, St. John’s may have won that game.

After the first game and the heartbreaking defeat, St. John’s was able to add a huge win to their resume. They destroyed the Big East favorite Marquette in Jamaica, NY. That win solidified their status of a team who is trending upward. The upward trend is going to come with many games that are too close for comfort. The close games just seem to be the way St. John’s plays; the team is scrappy and seems to have a penchant for late-game heroics.

The Red Storm have shown early on in conference that they do not need their star, Shamorie Ponds, to score a ton of points for them to win and that is a good sign for the rest of the year. In a year where the Big East looks down, the Red Storm have just as good a shot as anyone to win the regular-season crown. If the Red Storm continue their upward trajectory, they will not have to sweat on Selection Sunday as they will be in comfortably.