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For the first time since St. John’s became a team of destiny — a team as feared as any in the country after stunning Duke and Pitt during a six-game win streak — an unsettling notion has threatened to creep into the Red Storm locker room.

Maybe it’s not meant to be.

A team of destiny doesn’t lose its most versatile player in its last game before the NCAA Tournament begins.

A team of destiny doesn’t get sent this far west to face a NCAA Tournament-proven program whose fans consider this little more than a road trip.

A team of destiny doesn’t draw an opponent whose strengths are the poison arrow aimed at the Red Storm’s Achilles’ heel.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/sju_embraces_rough_road_as_it_opens_C6JkV3QGcENBw8KWawuOyN#ixzz1GrIW4Kxb

DENVER — The sweet sound of NCAA Tournament basketballs bouncing on the court reverberated through the Pepsi Center at approximately 7:10 Jamaica time last night, and dribbling them were proud young men wearing this unmistakable WE ARE ... ST JOHN’S look, in their eyes and in their body language, proud young men who never stopped believing that March Madness would one day be theirs.

More than any other moment — whipping Duke in the Garden, rising to 15th in the national polls — this was truly the moment that told the college basketball world that St. John’s was back.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/johnnies_hit_denver_with_mix_of_cdCbjWdFkPaDdhi6cnJhcN#ixzz1GrIq5nyZ

It's a perfect Red (and green) Storm!

Irish pubs across town are bracing for today's double whammy: St. Patrick's Day and St. John's University's return to the NCAA tournament -- both of which are occurring on a Thursday, already the city's busiest bar night of the week.

With sunny skies and warm temperatures, city officials are expecting a massive turnout for today's St. Patrick's Day Parade and the revelry that will go on long after dark. To handle the Blarney-fueled March Madness, pubs have loaded up with enough booze and corned beef to satisfy armies of loony leprechauns.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/st_johnnie_day_ymXQQo7BxZLnVFiZ84bbTI#ixzz1GrIvs3fU