Justin Simon and St. John's moved into the Associated Press poll this week at No. 24.
There were skeptics o’plenty as far as St. John’s was concerned
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Sure they were a flawless 12-0 through their non-conference season, but still the Johnnies were being treated like the Rodney Dangerfields of the college basketball world - no respect.
They played very few quality opponents in the non-con season, the critics said. And when they did step up the competition a level or two along the way, against teams such as Cal, VCU and Georgia Tech, the Johnnies managed a win, but it was a struggle.
Heck, there was even that early-season game against Bowling Green where the Johnnies escaped with an 84-80 win, thus avoiding an embarrassing home loss to a “Who Are They?” team from a lower level conference.
But the Johnnies did close out their non-conference schedule with five straight convincing wins as the team began to gel, with none of the victories coming by less than 15 points. Still, despite a perfect 12-0 break out of the season’s starting gate, the college basketball world and the national media yawned as St. John’s was largely ignored on the Associated Press Top 25 polls.
It sure didn’t help the Johnnies’ cause when they began BIG EAST conference play and led Seton Hall for virtually the entire game before seeing the Pirates’ Shavar Reynolds knock down a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 76-74 win, a shot that was made possible by a controversial out of bounds call against St. John’s.
So how did St. John’s respond to its first taste of adversity? By making a bold statement with a convincing 20-point victory over then-No. 16 Marquette at a raucous Carnesecca Arena. It was a statement that said, “We are for real.”
“Wherever we play we feel like we have a good enough team to beat anybody,” St. John’s head coach Chris Mullin said after the win.
The victory came on New Year’s Day night, and it was a victory that just might have changed the trajectory of the Johnnies’ season.
“I believe (the victory over Marquette) shows that we have a talented team,” said Marvin Clark II, who had 22 points in the win. “It also shows that we still have a lot to prove. Whatever the naysayers were saying about our non-conference schedule, it doesn’t matter. I think that’s what (the win) says the most.”
The Johnnies also made a fan of Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski with their dominating performance and he sees St. John’s as not only a growing power in the BIG EAST, but a player on the national level.
They are an outstanding team,” Wojo said. “We’ve played a half dozen games or more against big-time teams and they are every bit as good, if not better, than the teams we have played. Chris has done a great job with this team. (St. John’s has gotten) crap for their schedule (but) you are looking at one of the top 20 in the country in my opinion. They create a lot of headaches and they are going to win a lot of games this year.”
In the Johnnies latest game, the goal was simple enough - vanquish the Demon of D.C. You see, the Red Storm have had something of a luck drought in the nation’s capital, having not won there since January of 2003 while dropping 13 straight at the Hoyas’ home. So fresh off his 26-point performance against Marquette, Shamorie Ponds erupted for a game-high 37 points as the Johnnies left D.C. with a 97-94 overtime win. It was Ponds’ fourth 30-plus performance of the season as he moved into 13th place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,526 points. It also helped him earn BIG EAST Player of the Week honors this week.
The win moved St. John’s to 14-1 on the season, its best start since the 1985-86 season. And those critics? Well, you’re not hearing much from them anymore. Oh, and getting that win over the Hoyas on former coach/icon Lou Carnesecca’s 94th birthday? Just a little icing on the cake for the Storm.
“It was nice. I talked to (Coach Carnesecca) before the game and that’s all he wanted, a win over Georgetown,” Mullin said. “So we’re glad that happened for him. I think there is a tremendous excitement, optimism and a good feeling (about the program). I think it’s great that our fanbase has watched us throughout. They watched us struggle, improve, and now watch them have success. It’s a genuine and authentic way to go about it.”
St. John’s received a modicum of national respect when it received one vote - one - in the AP poll released on Dec. 31. That was before the wins over Marquette and Georgetown. This time around, in the poll released Jan. 7, the Johnnies joined the ranks of the nation’ best when they came in at No. 24, the first time they have been ranked in more than four years.
That No. 24 spot is a number the Johnnies hope to improve upon when they travel to unranked Villanova (how strange does that sound?) for a Tuesday night battle with the Wildcats, the gold standard in the BIG EAST until someone knocks off the defending BIG EAST Tournament champions. Villanova is 11-5 overall, 2-0 in the league and first among teams “also receiving votes” in the AP poll.
Justin Simon says the Johnnies will be ready for their next “prove it” contest.
“We’re coming in with a mindset that we’ve had all season of just go 1-0 every game,” Simon said. “Focus on the game and finish the task at hand. It’s going to be a great environment. We beat Villanova last year and we’re expecting the crowd to be crazy. Those guys are ready to play and are going to bring it.”
Just as St. John’s has been doing, college basketball’s Rodney Dangerfields no more.