24. St. John’s (10-2)
Rick Pitino has people believing in New York and across the country that he can have success with the Red Storm and the results have been pretty decent after six weeks. St. John’s lost a double overtime battle against Baylor and lost a classic against Georgia back in the Bahamas but have taken care of business in their other games, albeit not against the world’s strongest opposition.
That changes moving forward, as this team began Big East play on Tuesday night with an 89-61 win over DePaul. Kadary Richmond had 18 points and 7 rebounds while Simeon Wilcher had 16 points in what wasn’t exactly the toughest league opener. Friday’s effort is why the Red Storm are here, as they fought back from a 13-point halftime hole to win 72-70 at Providence. Zuby Ejiofor contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds while Deivon Smith added 17 points in a great comeback win.
The analytics love what the Red Storm has done this season and this offense really does get the job done when they’re operating at a high level. There are some great pieces in this lineup even beyond the four names mentioned above and there’s every reason to believe they can compete near the top of the Big East. Looking ahead, next week is a tilt against Delaware before getting back into league action.