When St. John’s fell at DePaul on January 14th, it was the turning point for both teams. With the victory, the Blue Demons became 2-3 in the Big East and looked to be flirting with mediocrity.
They have just one victory since and instead reverted back to what they’ve always been under Oliver Purnell- the laughingstock of the league. Think Illini football in the Tim Beckman era. St. John’s fell to 0-5 in league play with that defeat, but since then they’ve gone 8-3 and they’re right square on the NCAA Tournament bubble now.
St. John’s leads all of college basketball in blocked shots, just like they were #1 nationally last year. They’re doing with defense this year. They have a quality win over Creighton, but a couple of bad losses at DePaul and to Penn State.
Joe Lunardi had them as first four out before the win over DPU today. They have a schedule strength of 27, which is impressive, but that 1-7 versus the RPI top 50 is anything but. They currently sit at 19-11, 9-8 in league play.
St. John’s won a home date with DePaul. The only remaining road game for Steve Lavin and company is at Marquette. Which is like a play-in game. Is above .500, 10-8 in conference play enough? Probably. You need to get that RPI into the 40s, or better yet the 30s to grab an at-large berth in most seasons. Right now it’s only 60.The conference tournament is held at one of St. John’s two home courts. If SJU were to then pick up two conference tournament wins they should be a lock.
A month ago, it looked like St. John’s was destined for no postseason, and maybe NIT at best. Back on January 17th, Steve Lavin and St. John’s were in very dire straits. As I wrote on January 17th,
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)