Big East Basketball Power Rankings: Providence, Xavier surging
478. . . . St. John's Red Storm. 9. player
St. John’s has at least swept DePaul since the beginning of conference play but it has been an otherwise forgettable month for the program. In similar fashion to DePaul, St. John’s put together a strong non-conference resume to put itself firmly in the early NCAA Tournament conversations.
Wins over West Virginia and Arizona, most notably, were very impressive as the Mike Anderson Era of the program appeared to be getting off to a better start than anyone could have anticipated. Since then, though, the Red Storm have significantly cooled off and are only 2-8 in Big East play. That has warranted a dip close to the bottom of the conference rankings.
Even with these struggles, though, I still feel that this has been a positive season for the program. A change of direction was definitely needed and Coach Anderson fits that bill. He is a proven winner and the roster immediately bought into his up-tempo, pressure-defense scheme. While the team hasn’t been as successful as many might have hoped, they are playing with a level of energy and toughness that wasn’t necessarily evident in prior campaigns.
It’s also important to note that Coach Anderson has a few solid recruits coming in next season as well that could be immediate contributors. While this past month has been disappointing, the program might be trending up for the first time in a while.
St. John’s is a better team than its record (13-10, 2-8 BE), in my opinion, and could really help the conference by winning a couple more games. The Red Storm appear to be out of the at-large conversation at this moment but are barely hanging onto a Top 75 ranking in the NET. If they can hold inside that threshold, that could help the BE land more bids as it has a major impact on quadrant records.