St. John's has an opportunity to earn a big non-conference win over Kansas State
Big non-conference wins are important, and St. John’s coach Rick Pitino has an opportunity to earn one Saturday against Kansas State. Credit: Noah K. Murray
If the first week of December feels as if it’s way too early for a “must-win” situation, that’s because it is. And yet that’s more-or-less what St. John’s is looking at when it hosts Kansas State in a Big East/Big 12 Challenge game on Saturday at Carnesecca Arena.
It didn’t have to be this way. Some is the Red Storm’s fault. They coughed up their No. 22 ranking when they lost by a point in double overtime to then-No. 13 Baylor and fell to unranked Georgia in the Bahamas. But their colleagues in the Big East also did plenty of damage with poor showings the past couple weeks in high-profile tournaments.
Two-time defending national champion UConn plunged from No. 2 to No. 25 after losing all three games at the Maui Invitational before prevailing in a big game Wednesday against Baylor. Creighton went from No. 15 to unranked after dropping three straight and might have begun to resuscitate itself with Wednesday’s win over top-ranked Kansas. Xavier surrendered its No. 22 ranking by getting shellacked by unranked Michigan.
Entering this week, only two Big East teams were among the Top 25. And even though UConn beat Baylor and Creighton defeated Kansas, St. John’s 11:30 a.m. game against the Wildcats is a last chance to score a big non-conference win.
The Big East got only three teams into the 2024 NCAA Tournament as the Red Storm, Providence and Villanova got bypassed. Until Wednesday’s two results, the conference hadn’t exactly made a case that it merits more respect this time around than it got last March.
St. John’s (6-2) has one respectable non-conference win, against New Mexico. Kansas State (6-2) is expected to be a strong team, even though it lacks a signature win. A win here ultimately could pay a lot of dividends. And there is every reason to believe guard Deivon Smith will return to action for an important contest after he was benched for the entirety of the last weekend’s underwhelming 13-point win over two-win Harvard for disciplinary reasons.
The window for the Big East to make a case for itself is closing with conference play beginning in less than two weeks. St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was asked about the state of the conference after the win over Harvard and shared opinions that may or may not be well received by Big East administrators.
“We should have expanded our league already,” Pitino said. “If you want to be a seven-to-nine-bid league, expand the league. If not, you’re going to be a four-bid league . . . I’m not going to say we’re not as good as we have been, but I will say that if you expand the league, it’ll only get stronger. That’s my opinion. That’s obviously not the league’s opinion.”
Asked for his opinion about which schools might enhance the Big East, Pitino pointed to Dayton, St. Louis, Loyola of Chicago and Memphis, which is ranked No. 16 and also has a football program generating revenue.
“I would expand it and you’ll have seven to nine bids rather than three or four,” Pitino said.
St. John’s stands with No. 5 Marquette, UConn, Creighton and Xavier as the top teams in the Big East. But after this game against Kansas State, the chances to improve its resume lie only in conference games. The remaining non-conference games are against Bryant and Delaware.
UConn and Creighton did a lot to make up for the damage from two weeks ago with the wins over Baylor and Kansas, and there are other moving parts that could determine the fate of the Big East teams.
The ACC, for example, looks very suspect after it went 2-14 against the SEC — only Duke and Clemson were winners — on Tuesday and Wednesday. So the weakness of other conferences could help the Big East earn more bids.
The Big East has shots to raise its profile. Butler plays No. 17 Houston, Marquette plays No. 11 Wisconsin, UConn meets No. 7 Gonzaga, Creighton has a game with No. 10 Alabama and Xavier plays No. 14 Cincinnati.
St. John’s appears to be a good team and can earn its spot with a strong campaign in the conference. But the margins got smaller when the Big East flailed last month. Beating Kansas State is the best thing the Red Storm can do to raise their profile.
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.