St. John's final 2 games an NCAA test run
Sean Evans #5 of the St.John's Red Storm fights for the ball against Jimmy Drew #23 and Jeremiah Kelly #11 of the DePaul Blue Demons. (Feb. 23, 2011) Credit: Jim McIsaac
St. John's might have a veteran team with nine seniors, but the No. 15-rated Red Storm is sailing into uncharted waters in preparation for the school's first NCAA Tournament since 2002. While fans worry about a letdown in the final week of the regular season, coach Steve Lavin views tonight's game against Seton Hall at Newark's Prudential Center and Saturday's Senior Night game against South Florida at Carnesecca Arena as a shakedown cruise for the postseason.
Lavin encouraged his players to manage all the details for Senior Night - family tickets, travel, hotel reservations - early in the week so they could focus on the basketball part of the equation. The Thursday-Saturday spacing of the games, Lavin noted, "will simulate the NCAA Tournament. We're using this week as a test or a trial. Are we mature enough to manage the emotional aspect and enjoy that moment but bring the armor that it takes to stay on task and win a game?"
St John's (19-9, 11-5 Big East) can clinch a double bye in the Big East Tournament by winning both games this week, but the Red Storm has not won at Seton Hall (11-17, 5-11) since 1998. Despite losing five of their past six games, the Pirates were good enough to win by 22 at Syracuse in January, and the local rivalry adds spice.
Although the double bye would seem to offer incentive to the Red Storm because they would be seeded into the Big East quarterfinals, that's not where their focus lies. Having won eight of their past nine games to all but assure themselves of an NCAA Tournament bid, the real goal now is simply to keep winning.
They now believe even the NCAA title is attainable. What the heck, they already trounced defending national champion Duke by 15 points at the Garden.
"If we get to the national championship, we get to the national championship," forward Sean Evans said. "As long as we play hard and do as much as we possibly can to get to that game, I'm happy, and I think my teammates will be, too."
Not to go all Rex Ryan about it, but when Evans was asked if this team can win it all, he said, "Definitely. We don't play just to play. We play to win, and our goal is to win a national championship as it is for any other team in the country. We're happy to be in the talk about winning a national championship."
