St. John’s has been desperate for a feel good win for over a month now and they finally got it Wednesday night in Philadelphia. After a long and hard fought game which saw the Red Storm come back from a double digit deficit, Sir’Dominic Pointer took an inbounds pass the length of the floor and deposited a jumper over a St. Joe’s defender to knock off the Hawks and advance to the second round of the NIT.

The win was the first for the team since a victory over South Florida in front of a sold out crowd at Carnesecca Arena on February 20th. The Red Storm will now travel further south to take on the #1 seeded Virginia Cavaliers.

The history between St. John’s and Virginia is not a vast one and is mostly one sided, St. John’s is 7-0 against these Cavs and the last time they played was 10 years ago in 2003 when the Johnnies defeated the Cavs 73-63 at Carnesecca Arena. Marcus Hatten scored 30 points to lead the Johnnies to victory and eventually to win the NIT crown that year, although it would be technically vacated in 2006 due to NCAA violations.

Game Information
Date: Sunday, March 24th, 2013
Location: John Paul Jones Arena- Charlottesville, VA
Time: 11:00 AM EST
TV: ESPN
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Vin Parise)

Virginia Cavaliers (22-11, 11-7)
Head Coach: Tony Bennett

The Cavaliers are one of the best teams that St. John’s could have gotten lined up with in this NIT. The Cavs who were on the bubble to make the NCAA tournament had some great wins this year including home victories over Duke, Maryland, NC State and North Carolina. The JPJ is not an easy place to play and the Cavs will look to have a home court boost when they take on the Johnnies early Sunday morning.

Joe Harris is the best player the Cavs have to offer, the 6’6 guard is averaging 16.7 points per game on 47% shooting from the field. Harris had a decent game against Norfolk State in the first round of the NIT as he scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out two assists in helping the Cavs to victory over an upset minded Spartans team.

Big man Akil Mitchell will be a handful inside for the Johnnies. Mitchell is averaging 13.3 points and nine rebounds per game for the Cavs and had a great first round game against Norfolk State. Mitchell had 15 points and 11 boards for himself against Norfolk State but he did turn the ball over five times.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F Akil Mitchell
F Justin Anderson
G Paul Jesperson
G Joe Harris
G Jontel Evans

St. John’s Red Storm (17-15, 8-10)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin

With that allusive win behind them the Johnnies will start to look and do some real damage in this NIT as they can now see that they are good enough to win without D’Angelo Harrison. The person who has really stepped up to the plate in Harrison’s absence has been Sir’Dominic Pointer. Pointer not only had the game winning shot against St. Joe’s but he stuffed the stat sheet again. 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal was the final line for Pointer on the night. Pointer went 6-7 from the field and hit three of three from behind the arc to set a career high in three pointers made.

It was a huge charge call that Pointer drew to turn the momentum around for the Johnnies in round one. You could see Pointer wanted it and he showed it and you then could see it in his teammates.

Being benched from the starting lineups in the first round was Phil Greene and Chris Obekpa for a minor infraction of team rules. It didn’t stop Greene or Obekpa from having solid games off the bench. Greene had a decent shooting game as he collected 10 points and three assists on 5-10 shooting. Obekpa had six points, eight rebounds and three blocks to pace himself with a solid outing.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F JaKarr Sampson
F Sir’Dominic Pointer
F Chris Obekpa
G Phil Greene
G Jamal Branch

Keys to Victory

•   Three Point Defense- In the first half against St. Joe’s the Johnnies were not playing good defense on shots behind the arc. After tightening up their defense in the second half allowed them to win, it would be wise to not wait until the second half to do the same against the Cavs. The Cavs have some lethal shooters, like Mike Tobey who is shooting 60% from three on the year.

•   Surprise- It is usually the teams who want to win and play at the Garden in the NIT Final Four that usually end up winning the whole thing. Virginia was a bubble NCAA team and the Johnnies need to look to exploit the fact that they might be disappointed in playing in the NIT instead of the NCAA. Show up and out hustle, rebound and shoot high percentage shots and become one step closer to the Garden.

•   Air France– It’s been a weird season for Marc-Antoine Bourgault. From barely playing to a surprise garbage time performance catapulting into actual minutes back to only playing about five minutes a game can be frustrating. It seems Bourgaults shot is off as well. But if Bourgault can get some shots to fall in big spots it would be incredibly important for the Red Storm. He is the x factor.

•    Growing Branch- Jamal Branch may have only played 19 minutes in round one but he looked a lot better then he has since he went down with his MCL injury a month and a half ago. Branch finished round one with nine points and five assists and hit some clutch free throws down the stretch. If Branch can play extended minutes and play as well as he did on Wednesday the Johnnies can be in line for an upset bid.

Final Prediction: Virginia Wins, 66-57

The regular season is over for the St. John’s Red Storm as a heartbreaking buzzer beater loss against Marquette at the Garden closed the doors on an up an down ride. The Red Storm end the seasons with 16 wins and are two games above the .500 mark. The Johnnies are going to look to make a run in the conference tournament and win four games in four days to get an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Johnnies first game in the tournament will be against pesky Villanova and their giant killing team. The Wildcats have won three games against top five ranked teams this season, all at home though. The Wildcats knocked off Syracuse, Louisville and Georgetown and are almost a lock to be invited to the tournament with an at large berth.

Earlier in the year these two teams kicked off the Big East schedule against each other in an overtime shootout in Philadelphia. Villanova won 98-86 as the Johnnies struggled in the extra period. This game was almost a coming out party for freshman Ryan Arcidiacono who scored 32 points and shot 7-13 from downtown while making 11-13 free throws.

Game Information
Date: Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
Location: Madison Square Garden- New York, NY
Time: 7:00 PM EST
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Brandon Tierney)

Villanova Wildcats (19-12, 10-8)
Head Coach: Jay Wright

The Wildcats and Jay Wright have had quite the season. From an early season losses to Columbia and La Salle the Wildcats were able to bounce back and be a team to be reckoned with. Villanova will look to put a cap on their season and try to add to their resume before Selection Sunday.

Sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkston was named to the All Big East third team for the season. Pinkston has really grown since his freshman year and averaged 12.9 points per game to lead the team. Pinkston shot a good 46% from the field and grabbed 4.8 rebounds per game.

Freshman guard Ryan Archidiacono was named to the Big East All Rookie team and will be the main opposition for Johnnies freshman JaKarr Sampson as winner of Rookie of the Year. Archidiacono averaged 12.2 points and shot 34% from downtown.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F Mouptaou Yarou
F JayVaughn Pinkston
G Darrun Hillard
G Ryan Arcidiacono
G James Bell

St. John’s (16-14, 8-10)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin

The Johnnies will look to extend their season and try to make the Big Dance or at worse the NIT as they take on Villanova on Wednesday. They started off the week with some solid news as JaKarr Sampson was named to the Big East All Rookie team and the All Big East honorable mention.

Sampson leads all freshmen in scoring as he is averaging 14.9 per game and rebounding at 6.6 per game. Sampson also records 1.9 blocks per game and has grown up from the start of the season. Sampson scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the season finale against #15 Marquette at the Garden.

Also named to the Big East All Rookie team was game changer Chris Obekpa. Obekpa was denied Big East Defensive Player of the Year even though he recorded 124 rejections this season and averaged 6.5 rebounds per game. Obekpa finished the season with a four point, seven rebound, seven block performance against Marquette.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F JaKarr Sampson
F Sir’Dominic Pointer
F Chris Obekpa
G Phil Greene
G Jamal Branch

Keys to Victory

•   Best Player on the Court- JaKarr Sampson will arguably be one of the best all around players on the court on Wednesday night and the Johnnies need him to be just that. Sampson has played great down the stretch and a big game on offense and defense will be needed for St. John’s to advance.

•   Three point shooting/defense- After a horrid 2-16 showing from three point land against Marquette the Johnnies need to be taking better shots from behind the arc. Marco Bourgault has a great shot but it has been off for a couple games and he will look to get it back. As for defensively the Johnnies need to stick a man on Archidacono at all times, the lethal shooter can shoot the Johnnies right out of the tournament.

•   PG The Fourth– Arguably his best game as a Johnnie, sophomore guard Phil Greene played his heart out against Marquette. Greene’s 20 point performance on 9-15 shooting was much needed since D’Angelo Harrison’s suspension. Look for Greene to try and heat up the hoops again.

•   The Bad Man is Back- Sophomore forward Sir’Dominic Pointer served his one game suspension and will be back for the first game of the Big East Tournament. Pointer is important part of this team on offense and defense as he has played well and developed over the season to the kind of player Steve Lavin thought he was getting when he recruited him. Pointer was the missing x-factor that could have swayed the Marquette game towards St. John’s favor and look for him to try and make an impact on the big stage.

Final Prediction: St. John’s Wins, 66-64

There have been better and worse days at St. John’s this year but the Red Storm are struggling at one of the most important times of the season, the end. The Red Storm has two games left this season including tonights contest with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Johnnies are hoping to find the luck of the Irish again tonight as they have won three straight against this Notre Dame team who will be celebrating their Senior Night. On January 15th, the Johnnies defeated the Irish 67-63 behind 17 points from freshman JaKarr Sampson.

Game Information
Date: Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Location: Purcell Pavilion- South Bend, IN
Time: 7:00 PM EST
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WBBR 1130 AM (John Minko, Brandon Tierney)

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (22-7, 10-6)
Head Coach: Mike Brey

The Irish have been a top 25 team all season long and have had some epic games including the five overtime game against Louisville that will go down as one of the best games played this year. Their last time out they had snapped their winning streak with a loss to first place Marquette, 72-64 on the road.

Jack Cooley only played 15 minutes and did not score while Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins lead the way with 21 and 16 points respectively. The Irish will be headed to Louisville after the game with the Johnnies for a big Saturday rematch before the Big East Tournament begins next Tuesday, March 12th at Madison Square Garden.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F Tom Knight
F Jack Cooley
G Eric Atkins
G Pat Connaughton
G Jerian Grant

St. John’s (16-12, 8-8)
Head Coach: Steve Lavin

For the seventh time this season JaKarr Sampson was named the Big East Rookie of the Week. It is all but written that Sampson will be named the Big East Rookie of the Year next week at the Big East Tournament. Coming off a 22 point, six rebound performance in a heartbreaking loss to Providence on Saturday, Sampson has become the first option for the Johnnies since the D’Angelo Harrison suspension last week.

This will be the second game Harrison will miss. The Johnnies have one more game in the regular season before opening the Big East Tournament on Wednesday March 13th. Harrison would not be able to participate in any Big East Tournament or possible postseason tournament play either.

Projected Starting Lineup:
F JaKarr Sampson
F Sir’Dominic Pointer
F Chris Obekpa
G Phil Greene
G Jamal Branch

Keys to Victory

•    Cooley Off- Last time these two teams met it was important for the Johnnies to slow down Jack Cooley. Cooley only had 10 points and five rebounds in 18 minutes and his lack of play was a big reason for the Johnnies pulling off the upset.

•    Bench play- Without their number one scorer at their disposal the bench play has become more important for the Johnnies as Amir Garrett and Felix Balamou got a lot of burn vs. Providence and Marco Bourgault was moved to the bench. If they want any chance to beat the Irish they will have to hit their shots and be a pain on the glass.

•   Guard the guards– Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins are high major scoring guards for the Irish. For the Johnnies to succeed they will need a conscious effort to guard the dual threat backcourt for the Irish.

•    Block party- The Red Storm lead the nation in blocked shots per game this year and to be able to beat the Irish they will need their best block party effort to slow down a good shooting, well balanced team like the Irish. They Johnnies won last game with a big block at the end of the game and they will need to make stops to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Final Prediction: Notre Dame Wins, 60-50