Onward They March

“The higher you climb on the mountain, the thinner the air gets,” Steve Lavin said before last week’s win over DePaul.

And the upward trek continues for the Red Storm, as they gain ten spots in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and eight spots in the AP Poll to settle in at #15/15 in the nation this week.

After a convincing win over DePaul at Carnesecca Arena Wednesday night, the Johnnies proved they could win on the road against a ranked opponent, traveling down to Philadelphia and beating #14 Villanova by 13 points.

Dwight Hardy, with his 21 points against DePaul and career-high 34 against Villanova, was named to the Big East Honor Roll. Providence’s Marshon Brooks and his incredible 52 points versus Notre Dame was most likely the only thing standing between Hardy and a third straight Big East Player of the Week.

With six wins in a row and eight in the last nine games, St. John’s finds itself in prime position for a double-bye in the Big East Tournament and an increasingly higher projected seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Storm has risen from a 13-seed a few months to a 4-seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology.

“A leap in the polls this late in the year provides further evidence that our group is truly galvanized in their purpose to finishing the regular season with momentum,” Lavin said after the polls’ release. “Our seniors are looking forward to completing their final campaign with a postseason run.”

Just weeks ago, it seemed the Red Storm would be on the NCAA Tournament bubble coming down the stretch, but this strong run has changed the season’s outlook entirely. With the win Saturday against Villanova, St. John’s has beaten more Top 15 teams this season than anyone else in the country. They will be favored in remaining regular season games versus Seton Hall and USF, making a 20-win season a strong possibility. It would be the first for the St. John’s program since 2002.

National media attention continues to pick up with the rise in the polls. In the past week, Coach Lavin has appeared on Rome Is Burning, Boomer and Carton on 660AM The Fan, as well as 1070 ESPN Radio in Indianapolis. In his appearance on Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, when asked whether his team could win it all, Lavin responded with something short, yet pithy, “Obviously our goal would be to win the national title. Why wouldn’t it?”

St. John’s takes on Seton Hall Thursday in Newark.