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
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