A Big East Tournament title would mean so much for St. John's & Co.
St. John's Red Storm guard Kadary Richmond dribbles the ball up court against the Marquette Golden Eagles in the first half of a Big East Tournament semifinal at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s already has held one big celebration on the Madison Square Garden floor. And now it’s looking for another.
The sixth-ranked and top-seeded Red Storm wore down Marquette in their Big East Tournament semifinal for a 79-63 victory on Friday night before another sellout crowd. They will look to add their first conference tournament championship in 25 years to their first outright regular-season title in 40 years on Saturday night against either Connecticut or Creighton.
The thing that makes St. John’s such a beautiful sight is the way it plays together. There are players who are identified as the stars — RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond — but they are a true ensemble.
And it shows up all the time, in their will to win and the connection on defense and willingness to sacrifice for each other. Case in point: Deivon Smith throwing himself in front of a driving Zaide Lowery in an attempt to draw a charging foul despite the injured right shoulder that’s hampered him for two months.
It was there in every extra pass. It was there in the way they retreated and looked not to pick up their man but pick up any man. And it was there when they went for the kill as the Golden Eagles grew tired.
The Red Storm continue to have flaws, however. They missed seven free throws, including the front end of two one-and-ones. They shot 28% from beyond the arc. They trailed by 15 points in the early going. But St. John’s keeps overcoming its shortcomings.
“We do whatever it takes to win,” Aaron Scott said. “We stayed together when we were down.”
St. John’s earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament field weeks ago, but coach Rick Pitino has mostly eschewed opportunities to rest players who are competing through injuries because everything for this team holds greater meaning.
Pitino has been clear that he wants the best NCAA seeding possible. He also understands that every time the Red Storm take the court, they hold huge meaning for a fan base that has been starved for successful teams for most of the last quarter-century.
There was no better measure of that than two weeks ago, when St. John’s moved its game against Seton Hall from Carnesecca Arena to the Garden a couple of weeks before the March 1 contest and ended up with a sellout crowd of 19,812 watching the Red Storm clinch their first outright regular-season crown since 1985.
So when the Red Storm went to Milwaukee last weekend, Pitino told them to play the game as if they were in the NCAA Tournament. They responded with an epic overtime victory over the Golden Eagles.
The situation with the Big East Tournament is the same kind of thing. While all four semifinalists were assured of getting in the NCAA Tournament, winning the conference’s premier event at the Garden meant much more to St. John’s than the rest.
The Red Storm last won the tourney title in 2000, and it’s been a very disappointing event pretty much every year since. That was until Pitino was hired two years ago. When they reached the semifinals a year ago, it was their first Friday night appearance since that 2000 championship.
Winning the conference championship is important to all of them, but it might mean a little more for Richmond. He is from Brooklyn and has said he’s been delighted at the way the city has reacted to the Red Storm’s success.
And he was the big snub when the conference awards came out. While Luis and Ejiofor were tabbed for the first team, he landed on the second team. Micah Peavy of seventh-place Georgetown was voted to the first team.
Richmond has been asked about it in the days leading up to the conference tournament and has seemed to take it in stride.
“Everybody said it doesn’t matter,” he said on Monday at an autograph appearance at Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows. “We know who you are, we know what you do. It just felt good that everybody in this locker room appreciates me and appreciates what I do.”
But he struck a different chord after St. John’s beat Butler on Thursday night in a quarterfinal game.
“It was surprising — I felt like I was up there with the best of them in this conference,’ Richmond told StormThePaint.com. “They picked who they picked, they did what they did, but we are here now and we’re winning. I’ve got two more games to show everybody they were wrong.”
Richmond had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on Friday night against Marquette.
It looks as if he and his teammates are ready to get everything they’ve wanted from this tournament.
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.
