Gonzaga PreGame Links

http://eye-on-college-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/27893889

Five must-see first-round games

St. John's (6) vs. Gonzaga (11). What will happen in another good one Thursday in Denver? Gonzaga's had a history of underachieving in the NCAA tournament. It doesn't seem like that on the surface, but anyone who's followed the sport knows just how frustrating the Zags have been in March for the better part of the past decade. Now it gets to face a senior-laden team with no tournament experience whatsoever. Why's this game must-watch? Because I can make the argument it's the most unpredictable of any game outside the 8/9s.

St. John's doesn't have D.J. Kennedy for the rest of the season due to an ACL injury he suffered in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. So, without him, that's why this team's vulnerable. Something to remember: Steve Lavin was incredibly successful in the first weekend when he coached at UCLA years back.

For the first time in nine years, St. John’s is officially back in the NCAA tournament.

When the brackets were unveiled Sunday evening the Red Storm was made a No. 6 seed in the Southeast Region and will play No. 11 and West Coast Conference champ Gonzaga in the first round. Pittsburgh is the No. 1 seed in the region and if St. John’s wins they will play the winner of BYU-Wofford.

The games will be played Thursday in Denver.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/round_john_is_no_seed_will_play_RireoJjuFeiFPh1mIlFT0M#ixzz1GWxbZ29e

NEW YORK -- At exactly 6:37 p.m. on Sunday, sitting in a private room at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse on 49th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan, 13 college basketball players finally saw their dream come true.

Their inclusion in this year's NCAA tournament was a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, the team had to wait until the very last of 32 game pairings was announced by CBS host Greg Gumbel to hear their school's name. But when "St. John's" finally appeared on the TV screen, it was official -- the Red Storm are back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.

Read More:
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/news/story?id=6213552

NCAA Tournament Southeast Region Revealed - CBSSports.com College Basketball Video

Celebration at the 3:30 mark.

Initial thoughts from Few

http://www.krem.com/video/raw/Raw-Mark-Few-I-assume-it-will-be-a-very-physical-game-117909479.html

For most of the St. John's seniors, it took their entire college careers to finally realize the dream of being picked for the NCAA Tournament. It figures they'd have to wait almost the entire hour-long selection show to finally see "St. John's" listed on the bracket.

When the wait was over, when the sixth-seeded Red Storm (21-11) found out it will be heading to Denver for a matchup against 11th-seeded Gonzaga (22-9) on Thursday night, the celebration was on at Smith and Wollensky Steakhouse on the East Side.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2011/03/13/2011-03-13_st_johns_sits_through_painful_selection_sunday_show_learns_its_facing_gonzaga_in.html#ixzz1GXYxpuAo

Steve Lavin has been the toast of this college basketball town in his first year at St. John's, giving the cornerstone team of the city its first NCAA Tournament berth in nine years.

But he hasn't done it alone.

The men behind the man have played an integral part in the resurgence of St. John's as the Storm's success has been fueled by a first-rate staff that has rapidly become one of the most able in the Big East.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2011/03/14/2011-03-14_march_madness_ncaa_tournament_steve_lavins_dream_team_coaching_staff_helps_him_r.html?r=sports

It was great to see the elation on the faces of the St. John's basketball team Sunday evening as their long walk in the desert officially came to an end with a bid to the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

The senior-laden team suffered an endless run of slings and arrows during their first three years, culminating in the firing of the man who brought all of them to Queens in the first place.

Steve Lavin has been very classy in the way he's credited Norm Roberts for a hand in this team's success, and we're hoping Roberts got some enjoyment from the scene on CBS Sunday.

As a basketball coach, though, he may have found himself a bit more concerned with what lies ahead of the Johnnies than savoring that moment of celebration.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/St-Johns-Didnt-Get-Much-Love-From-the-Selection-Committee-117930029.html

For a brief instant last night, as St. John’s saw its name flash on CBS’ selection show — as Dwight Hardy mugged for the cameras and his teammates erupted in celebration — the Red Storm weren’t worried about seeds or lamenting injured D.J. Kennedy.

They were just celebrating.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Red Storm is going Dancing. In coach Steve Lavin’s debut campaign in Queens, the Red Storm (21-11) earned its first NCAA tournament bid since its now-vacated trip back in 2002.

St. John’s was the last of a record 11 Big East teams revealed, the sixth seed in the Southeast Region, facing red-hot, 11th-seeded Gonzaga (24-9) in Denver at approximately 9:45 p.m. on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/mile_high_sju_draws_battle_tested_1YZNOBfkIDIQhBg4UnL66N#ixzz1GcbpYnn2

The waiting was killing them. Ten Big East teams already had been called into the NCAA tournament. All the St. John’s seniors had waited four years for this night, this moment.

“The anticipation, the buildup, it was like a long drumroll,” Justin Burrell, one of the seniors, said. “ didn’t ever think it was gonna end.”

“Everytime they went to a commercial, your stomach was turning a little bit faster, getting a little more nervous, to see all the other teams’ names being called, and yours not being called,” said Sean Evans, another one of the seniors. “But they can call us first or last, as long as they call us.”

Then, finally, ST. JOHN’S flashed on the screen.

“It was one of the best feelings of my life,” Dwight Hardy said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/buildup_worth_wait_for_lavin_squad_jZynuNeCs4EQH6Ge70XCTI#ixzz1Gcc6Jtwb

They were the young guns of the West.

Steve Lavin, now the St. John’s coach, and Mark Few, now the Gonzaga coach, would find each other in small gym after small gym, at all hours on weekends and holidays.

Dan Monson, the former Minnesota coach now at Long Beach State, Bill Grier, at San Diego, and Ray Giacoletti, the former Utah coach, now one of Few’s assistants — they were all basketball junkies.


“We were all up-and-coming guys ready to conquer the world,” Few told The Post in an exclusive telephone interview last night. “We’re going back 15, 20 years ago, living out of one motel room, or a car with dreams.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/coaching_battle_will_pit_pair_of_Zo0RhVypsOtuyfI6vSaOQJ#ixzz1GccUezqB

NEW YORK -- D.J. Kennedy took the court for St. John's one more time Monday afternoon.

Wearing a gray team sweatsuit and dragging along his injured right leg, the senior forward limped out onto the floor at Carnesecca Arena to join his teammates at the pep rally preceding the school's first NCAA tournament appearance in nine years.

The few hundred fans in attendance cheered loudly as Kennedy made his way to the middle of the court, slapping five with all his teammates.

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/ncb/columns/story?columnist=darcy_kieran&id=6217832

Sweet 16 Prediction For St. John's - ESPN Video - ESPN

Can't believe I'm linking Gottlieb but here he is

St. John's Steve Lavin Interview - ESPN Video - ESPN

Lavin interview

D.J. Kennedy, wearing a gray sweatsuit and a black Raiders cap, hobbled onto the court at Carnesecca Arena yesterday, through the line of cheerleaders, toward some of his St. John’s teammates who already had been introduced, and into the hearts of 1,200 cheering fans at a pep rally that symbolized Joy in Johnnieville after nine years of irrelevance, and even despair.

He looked up at the crowd and waved, then looked up at the image of his face on the screen overhead. And he remembered exactly what he was thinking at that moment.

“I’m thankful for the fans I got ... it just hurt that I can’t show my appreciation by not being able to play,” Kennedy said. “But I’m sure my team will pick me up.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/an_inspiration_at_storm_sendoff_uoDgeDXQOZYcB4a6sHaFgJ#ixzz1GfdVjDOH

No one could blame St. John’s senior D.J. Kennedy if he were bitter about the torn right ACL he suffered in Thursday’s Big East game — an injury that ended his college career and squashed his last chance to Dance.

But that’s just not the style of this tough kid from Pittsburgh who, four years ago, chose to come to downtrodden St. John’s — chose to accept the challenge of pulling the program out of the darkness and into the March light.

“I’ve never once said, ‘Man, why did this happen to me?’ “ Kennedy said yesterday after an enthusiastic rally at Carnesecca Arena, before the Red Storm takes off to Denver for its NCAA first-round game against Gonzaga.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/injured_kennedy_message_best_is_agK1bDWmIDsHnxUbh5wFqJ#ixzz1Gfe0Zeye

Former Xavier and Virginia coach Pete Gillen, a New York native and CBS College Sports Network analyst, shares some of his March Madness thoughts and predictions with The Post. As told to Steve Serby.

I’M picking St. John’s to get to the Sweet 16.

Gonzaga is not what it was, and St. John’s is playing with an edge, with a little bit of a chip on its shoulder, trying to bring the glory back. The Johnnies are on a mission. This is a favorable matchup for St. John’s if it brings its “A”game.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/sweet_on_johnnies_cdkt4xCA20v3fUuL43IycP#ixzz1GfeNPsmL

Dwight Hardy didn't even need to think about the question. St. John's star guard didn't need to consider the draw the Red Storm had just received when the NCAA Tournament field was announced. He didn't need to contemplate the composition of Gonzaga, the sixth-seeded Johnnies' opening opponent Thursday night in Denver.

Can St. John's make the Sweet 16?

"We want to go on a deep run and I think we're capable of doing it," said Hardy, the team's leading scorer. "It's about playing our style of basketball. We've shown that when we do, we can beat anyone in the country. But it's up to us to make it happen."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2011/03/15/2011-03-15_march_madness_ncaa_tournament_dwight_hardy_believes_st_johns_capable_of_advancin.html#ixzz1Gff440oo