22. St. John’s (16-3)
The three losses that St. John’s has suffered this season have come by a combined five points, all against teams that were ranked at one point or another. Rick Pitino has the Red Storm firing in his second season and are continuing a relatively hot stretch to kick off Big East play. A one-point loss at Creighton is their only blemish in league play to this point, but would that keep up into this week?
They had a close call on Tuesday, but survived with a 63-58 home win over Georgetown. RJ Luis Jr. had another great effort with 19 points as the Red Storm did just enough to hold on for another win. Saturday was a much more decisive result, with St. John’s winning 79-51 at Seton Hall. Luis starred with 24 points and 8 rebounds while Zuby Ejiofor added 15 points and 9 rebounds in the win.
There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the bottom half of the Big East, but St. John’s has certainly established themselves firmly near the top of that league. Now 7-1 in conference play, the Red Storm have won five in a row and have looked good on both sides of the ball at times. An NCAA Tournament appearance certainly looks in the cards if this team keeps playing like this; we’ll see how they handle their rematch with Xavier next Wednesday.