St. John's players: We would've made run in NCAA Tournament
St. John's Daniss Jenkins autographs a ball during a meet-and-greet at Applebee's in Fresh Meadows on Monday. Credit: Jeff Bachner
Selection Sunday brought only disappointment and frustration for the St. John’s basketball team. Three weeks and 66 NCAA Tournament games later, there was resignation early on Monday evening, but those initial feelings hadn’t gone away. The Red Storm players believe that, given the way they were playing at season’s end, they would have played deep into this tourney.
“I honestly believe we’d have played to at least the Sweet 16,” Daniss Jenkins said. “The way that we play isn’t the way most teams in the tournament play. We played fast. We were deep. And we weren’t scared of anyone. Look at how we were playing at the end: We scored 90 on UConn. Who’s done that?”
Even after UConn won the national championship on Monday night by defeating Purdue, 75-60, no one had since the Red Storm. And St. John’s was the last team that made Connecticut sweat to the end, falling 95-90 in a Big East Tournament semifinal.
“The physicality and caliber of play in the Big East has shown in how UConn, Marquette and Creighton played in the tournament,” Nahiem Alleyne said, referring to all three reaching the Sweet 16. “We’d have made a run just like those teams did. Just didn’t get the opportunity.”
The St. John’s players were gathered Monday night at Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows, Queens, to sign autographs and take photographs with Red Storm fans and patrons gathering at the restaurant to watch the title game. But as Chris Ledlum said, “We’d have liked for them to be able to see us play a couple more games . . . If we’d been selected, I have no doubt we’d have done damage.”
St. John’s not only wasn’t selected, it wasn’t viewed as one of the last four pared from the 68-team field. Even with 11 Big East wins and a NET ranking of 32, St. John’s couldn’t overcome early-season non-conference losses to teams such as Boston College and Michigan. And that made it feel that much worse.
“It hurt to see that with us playing so well at the end of the season, that this team with all this talent didn’t get to play again,” Alleyne said. “That they saw us as coming up short.”
St. John’s won six straight games, including an upset of nationally ranked Creighton, before the loss to UConn that proved to be its last game of the season.
“I’m going to be as honest as I can be: Watching the tournament, I’ve been kind of disappointed,” Simeon Wilcher said. “No disrespect to any teams, but it’s clear we were supposed to be out there. I’ve rewatched our games and then watched these . . . We’re not letting this happen next year.”
“Things will be different, be better for us next season,” Brady Dunlap said. “And the way [the selection committee] saw the Big East? The disrespect was insane, especially when you watch teams going out and just getting pummeled. We hung with UConn twice and Seton Hall beat them.”
For Joel Soriano, the last three weeks haven’t been easy.
“I was pretty upset we weren’t selected and I don’t mean for like a couple days — it was like a week and a half,” said Soriano, who played his final college game. “The losses we took in the beginning of the season took a toll and . . . when you play like we did at the end, it leaves you with a lot of ‘what-ifs.’ I’ve thought about what we could have done in this tournament a lot.”
Jordan Dingle, who transferred from Harvard, said Selection Sunday hurt, but he has found an easier way to frame it. “At Harvard, Selection Sunday never meant anything to me,” he said. “I got to have the experience of having it mean something and be a part of the experience. I’m grateful I got that this season.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.