St. John's must focus on winning Big East games, not on potential NCAA Tournament seeding
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino yells on the court during the first half of an NCAA men's basketball game against Providence on Feb. 1 at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
Hard to imagine as it may be, St. John’s biggest game of the season to date got just a little bigger on Saturday afternoon.
Front and center we have the ninth-ranked Red Storm facing No. 24 Creighton on Sunday with first place in the Big East on the line and a massive crowd expected at the Garden. A victory by St. John’s (21-4, 12-2) over the Bluejays (18-7, 11-3) would give the Red Storm a two-game lead in the standings with five to play as they angle for their second regular-season outright championship and first since 1985 (they had a share in 1992).
Now for the backdrop. The NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed Saturday on the Bracket Preview Show how it sees the top four seeds in each region right now, and the Red Storm were slotted No. 4 in the East Regional. That round of games will be held at Newark’s Prudential Center. It was the final team revealed, and committee chairman Bubba Cunningham said St. John’s finished just ahead of Michigan State and Marquette.
In the seven-year history of the show, 84% of the teams revealed ended up with a top four seeding when the actual field was announced on Selection Sunday, including 19 of the 28 teams with a No. 4 seeding.
The committee announcement is a coin with two sides. One one side, St. John’s has been so successful this season that’s it’s in a position like this for the first time in 25 years. On the other, the Red Storm now know they have something to lose.
And here’s a hard truth: For a St. John’s team that’s winning in a way that it hasn’t in eons, that’s nothing but a distraction.
The only thing the Red Storm were focused on before Saturday’s reveal was winning Big East games and capturing the conference regular-season title, and that’s where the focus should remain. Do that and the seeding and placement in the bracket on Selection Sunday will take care of itself.
And if recent trends hold up, the NCAA Tournament selection committee doesn’t make big changes based on the conference tournaments (unless an upstart wins an automatic bid).
Asked Friday about the possibility that St. John’s would be one of the 16 teams revealed Saturday, coach Rick Pitino replied, “Not interested.”
Zuby Ejiofor got the same question minutes later and said, “It would mean a lot.”
When Ejiofor uttered those words, it sounded a little like a knee-jerk response to being paid a compliment.
We say this because he speaks in an entirely different tone when talking about the value of beating Creighton and winning the conference title.
“We understand the magnitude of how important it is, not just for ourselves, but we’re playing for something that’s bigger than just ourselves,” Ejiofor said of Sunday’s game. “We’re playing for a Big East championship for the whole community. We understand that this is going to give us a little bit of a cushion . . . Everybody is totally engaged on what’s at hand and what it takes to win this game.”
That’s the way St. John’s has to be right now. Eyes on the prize you can earn. Not what might happen in a month.
Right time for Lefty?
Anyone who has ever watched Lefteris Liotopoulos put up three-pointers when the Red Storm shoot before games already knows. The 6-4 freshman from Greece who everyone calls “Lefty’’ almost never misses. The thing is, he hasn’t gotten to do it much in games.
That may be about to change. Pitino said Friday that Liotopoulos is going to see more playing time with Deivon Smith sidelined.
“We’ve got to probably try him because he’s such a good offensive [player] and because we need a backup point guard with Deivon out,” said Pitino, who called Liotopoulos “the best shooter on the team.”
Liotopoulos, who has played a total of 46 minutes in 16 games, has taken eight three-point attempts and made three. In Wednesday’s two-point loss at Villanova, a situation arose in which St. John’s needed a three-pointer. Liotopoulos delivered one so true that it snapped the net.
“When he had the open shot in the game, I knew it was good,” Aaron Scott said. “His shot is . . . really hard to contest.” Added Ejiofor: “He could be a great piece.”
The quality of Liotopoulos’ defense is what will determine whether he stays on the floor.
“He’s a defensive liability, and I only say that in terms of he’s a freshman,” Pitino said. “I would say 95% of freshmen are defensive liabilities. They just need to learn the game.”
Opponents clamping down on Ejiofor
Ejiofor’s emergence as one of the top big men in the Big East has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the conference, and opposing teams have started making it tougher for the Red Storm center to get good scoring chances. In the past three games, he’s taken a total of only 14 shots.
He is averaging 13.7 points and 8.2 rebounds, but Villanova dared the Red Storm to shoot three-pointers on Wednesday and limited Ejiofor to two points.
“Defenses [are] trying to stop him,” Pitino said. “But remember, most of his points come off offensive rebounding, which they’re stopping, and fast breaks. And with Deivon out, he doesn’t get as many.”
“These teams do a good job of scouting,” Ejiofor said. “I’ve got to do a better job on my part of just trying to work early to get angles and to run the floor a little bit better . . . than I’ve been doing the past couple of games.”
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.
