The Real Basketball Program In New York Finally Got Its First Important Win Under Chris Mullin

I saw this tweet from Goodman this morning and figured, hey, there are a lot of St. John’s people that read Barstool, let’s talk about them again. First off, Goodman is right. This was the most important win in the Mullin era for the Johnnies. I know they beat Duke and Nova last year, but there were no expectations and they were all but eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.

This year is different. This is the year where St. John’s had expectations to compete in the Big East, make the NCAA Tournament and win a game or so there.

I also know that St. John’s was undefeated in the nonconference (with Duke still left later in the year). But, they didn’t get a notable win. The best win they had was likely a semi-home win over VCU. Not really breaking out the best resume there. Throw in what happened at the end of the Seton Hall game. As Goodman talked about the fact that there was a missed call, but also that St. John’s couldn’t seal the game, missing some front end of 1-and-1s to go with it. It was a brutal loss.

Watching the game last night and reading accounts from people that were there the crowd at Carnesecca Arena was wild. It was as loud as its been in years. The crowd knew it needed a home win over a ranked and good Marquette team to really get this thing going on a national level. Yeah, we know about Shamorie Ponds and Mustapha Heron, but the national landscape is still waiting for St. John’s to finally get the win that gets people talking.

They did that. More importantly they did it with defense and Ponds going off. They were able to keep Markus Howard, a NPOY candidate in check and really disrupt that Marquette offense which is one of the most prolific in the country. They were able to have their star go off when they were the only notable college hoops game being played.

More importantly it has people talking about St. John’s again. They go to Georgetown and Villanova in the next two games. Split that and you’re sitting at 2-2 before home games vs DePaul and Creighton. With Nova not being as dominant as years past you can realistically be at 4-2 with a shot to win the Big East. You have to win home games in order to do that including over teams like Marquette who are even (the spread was St. John’s -2).

St. John’s is clearly one of the top-35 teams in the country on paper, but the problem was the resume paper didn’t match that. Getting wins like this helps with that and takes stress off come seeding and NCAA Tournament time. On top of that it’s just good for the sport when a team like St. John’s is relevant in New York City. It also helps Shamorie Ponds in the race for Big East Player of the Year vs Markus Howard and Myles Powell.