St. John’s controls NCAA Tournament destiny but needs to thrive in key stretch

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MILWAUKEE You can twist yourself into a pretzel agonizing over the close losses.

Wondering what might have been had St. Johns found a way to steal one of those close games against No. 1 Connecticut, No. 7 Marquette and No. 19 Creighton, defeats by a combined six points.

You can drive yourself crazy following all the Bracketologists and tracking the NCAA Tournament bubble, trying to figure out what it will take for the Johnnies to return to March Madness and how every result directly impacts their path.

St. Johns fans are wired to expect the worst, understandable considering the last two-plus decades of mostly irrelevance. They make Mets and Jets fans look like eternal optimists.

So it shouldnt be a surprise to hear the recent negativity surrounding this team, which had lost five of its last six games prior to Tuesdays 28-point thumping of perennial Big East cellar-dweller DePaul.

St_John_s_controls_NCAA_Tournament_destiny_but_needs_to_thrive_in_key_stretch St. John’s Red Storm center Joel Soriano gets fouled under the basket by DePaul Blue Demons forward Da’Sean Nelson. Robert Sabo for NY PostDespite those frustrating close losses, despite the skid, despite St. Johns now finding itself squarely on the bubble for the time being, everything remains in play for coach Rick Pitinos team in his first season.

A top-five finish in the Big East. A return to the main draw of the tournament for the first time since 2015. All the Johnnies realistic preseason goals are well within reach. They control their own destiny.

The key stretch begins in earnest Saturday at Marquette, followed by another vital road game against on-the-bubble Providence, which is 48-5 at Amica Mutual Pavilion in its last 53 games. There is another trip to Butler and home games against Creighton and Seton Hall.

St. Johns (14-9, 6-6) has already beaten Butler and Providence and lost by one point apiece to Creighton and Marquette. If it cant win, at minimum, two of those games, and take care of the three remaining contests against DePaul and Georgetown, it doesnt belong in the tournament. Simple as that.

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Check out more newslettersWe want to definitely get one for sure, point guard Daniss Jenkins said, referring to the upcoming two-game road trip. We want to win both, obviously, but we know we need one.

Following the win over DePaul, an optimistic Pitino pointed to the losses to UConn, Marquette and Creighton, saying St. Johns was only a handful of points away from being ranked. That is true. But its also been a frustrating trademark of this team, being unable to finish out games. It goes beyond those three.

There was the loss at Xavier when the Johnnies were outscored 13-2 over the final 2:43. There were the setbacks to Boston College and No. 18 Dayton, games in which Pitinos team was close in the final five minutes. Overall, St. Johns is 5-5 in contests decided by single digits and 3-6 when the margin is six points or fewer with less than five minutes remaining.

St_John_s_controls_NCAA_Tournament_destiny_but_needs_to_thrive_in_key_stretch Chris Ledlum grabs a rebound during St. John’s win over DePaul. Robert Sabo for NY PostIts just about us doing the things we havent been good at in tough games, Jenkins said. Until we do it, until we get over the hump of winning a tough game like that and doing the little things differently, its going to be the same thing.

We dont need to do anything totally different. When I go back and look at these games, we had these games won. We had a win but there was just something, a bad possession, a rebound, something little like that, that may have gone the other way.

Those shortcomings in the clutch have prevented St. Johns from taking off, leading to this recent stretch in which it has lost far more than it has won. Pitinos first season is so far without a signature moment. There have, of course, been strong performances, one-sided wins over Utah, Butler, Xavier and Villanova twice. But that big victory has eluded the Johnnies, creating a thin tournament resume.

Pitino was asked if he believes this is an NCAA Tournament team, and he didnt hesitate at all.

Yes, without question, he said, and added: Weve got to get to 11 or 12 league wins, whatever it takes to get there. I try to tell them to play every game as if its the last game you are going to play at this time of year in February.

Pitino went on to call every game this month gigantic for everyone with March dreams. That rings true particularly for St. Johns. All their goals remain possible despite a shaky January, but its going to take the Johnnies best basketball to attain them.

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