Busting Brackets
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St. John’s Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Red Storm

By Benjamin Zacher

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 01: A general view during the game between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays at Carnesecca Arena on March 01, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 01: A general view during the game between the St. John's Red Storm and the Creighton Bluejays at Carnesecca Arena on March 01, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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St. John's Basketball
St John’s Basketball (Photo by Porter Binks/Getty Images) /

Schedule

A bit has changed since I wrote about Georgetown and the Big East earlier this month – namely, the Big East released its preseason Coaches Poll, where St. John’s was selected to finish ninth out of 11 teams, ahead of DePaul and Georgetown.

This speaks volumes about the depth of the Big East.  Villanova and Creighton are unanimously considered top-25 locks.  UConn, making its return to the Big East from the AAC, is a borderline top-25 squad, and Providence was picked ahead of UConn in the Big East preseason poll.  Seton Hall was just two points below UConn in the poll.

That leaves Marquette, Xavier, Butler, and St. John’s, all separated by 17 points – (for context, St. John’s and Georgetown are separated by 20 points).  This is a St. John’s team that finished ninth last season but picked off Creighton, Providence, and Marquette.  They are fully capable of pulling that off again – and more.

In addition to the preseason poll, the Big East has released their conference schedule for the month of December – 23 games in total, with St. John’s partaking in four of those.  Their first two tilts will be challenges, with an opening day tip at UConn scheduled for Dec. 11 and a game at Butler three days later.

While obviously tests that will gauge where St. John’s is compared to the rest of the talent in the Big East – particularly in the case of Butler, who is just four votes ahead of the Johnnies in the preseason poll – the two match-ups will allow the Red Storm the opportunity to overcome something that plagued them last season: their woeful record on the road.

The Johnnies played 32 games in all last season – 20 at home, nine away, and three on a neutral court.  Their record in those away games – all of which were Big East tilts – was 1-8, with their lone win coming at DePaul.

If they are unable to pull off Big East-opening wins on the road against UConn and Butler, then the Red Storm can equalize their record against two teams that they beat last season: Creighton and Georgetown.  St. John’s beat both teams last year, defeating Creighton at home and Georgetown in the opening round of the Big East tournament.

If this team hopes to have any chance at qualifying for the NCAA tournament, they will have to fix their woes on the road.  Assuming the Johnnies take care of business against Georgetown, going 2-1 against any combination of the other three would do wonders for their confidence, and potential postseason hopes, heading into 2021.

At least five non-conference games have been scheduled and publicly released thus far for the Johnnies – three of which should be guaranteed wins over La Salle, Sacred Heart, and Fordham.

The Red Storm will garner some experience against power conference competition prior to the Big East regular-season getting underway.  On Nov. 30, St. John’s will play what should be an improving Boston College team, and just days later will battle against Texas Tech.

Again, if the Johnnies hope to finally break through and earn a tournament berth, they will need a win over BC.  Likewise, this is a Texas Tech squad expected to be in the middle-of-the-pack of the Big 12, meaning St. John’s should have the opportunity to hang around with and potentially beat the Red Raiders.