St. John’s not running away from NCAA Tournament hopes

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CINCINNATI Chris Ledlum isnt cecking BracketMatrix.com.

He doesnt have the NET rankings page bookmarked.

He isnt refreshing KenPom.com after every game.

Still, the St. Johns senior forward hears the talk. Its hard to avoid.

Right now, the Johnnies are an NCAA Tournament team and he cant help but imagine what that would be like, to reach his first tournament with his hometown school.

Not to sound clich, but it would mean everything to do something like that in front of the home crowd, Ledlum, a Brooklyn native, said ahead of St. Johns trip to Xavier on Wednesday. I know Jordan Dingle, Joel Soriano and the local guys feel the same way. The fan base is the people we grew up around. It would be amazing.

It is something the players talk about, and certainly think about.

Only Daniss Jenkins, Zuby Ejiofor, Cruz Davis, Sadiku Ibine Ayo and Nahiem Alleyne have played in the tournament before.

St_John_s_not_running_away_from_NCAA_Tournament_hopes Chris Ledlum, driving to the basket during a recent game against Marquette, said it “would mean everything” if St. John’s could qualify for the NCAA Tournament. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters ConLedlum and Dingle both opted to come home to play for Rick Pitino at St. Johns after three seasons in the Ivy League in part because they envisioned the opportunity to play in March Madness for the first time.

Soriano stayed in Queens following the coaching change for the same reason. For all three seniors, the chance to play on the sports biggest stage is looking like a reality now.

St. Johns certainly looks like a tournament team based on its rsum (7-6 in Quad 1 and 2 games), metrics (NET ranking of 35, KenPom ranking of 33) and overall trajectory. It sits 5-4 in the Big East, with three of those losses by a combined six points to No. 1 Connecticut, No. 9 Marquette and No. 13 Creighton.

The Storm are getting healthy. Alleyne (right ankle) is expected to return against Xavier and Ledlums ankle is close to 100 percent after it cost him a few games earlier this month.

Pitino repeatedly said early in the year he expected this team to begin to hit its stride in February, that it just couldnt absorb too many losses so that it would be in a bad position. With the month arriving Thursday, the Johnnies seem poised to go on a run.

St_John_s_not_running_away_from_NCAA_Tournament_hopes Rick Pitino said he believes St. John’s will really hit is stride in February. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostI think we understand the importance of the rest of the games and we dont want to leave anything up to chance, Ledlum said. Were definitely in a place where were ready to take back off and win a bunch of games.

But, Ledlum added: I know we can do better than where we are now. I dont let projections really excite me. Its a long season. We have to stay the course, keep going.

Pitino has embraced the tournament talk. Before the Johnnies blowout of Villanova, he told the team that it was a game it had to win to go dancing. It had lost three in a row and couldnt afford to let that losing streak expand any further. The Johnnies responded by playing 40 intense minutes and coasting to their first season sweep of the Wildcats since 1992-93.

After the victory, a proud Pitino talked about how much he wanted to see this group reach the dance, particularly the guys who had never been there before. Now, St. Johns has to build on that win, or that spot in the tournament could become precarious.

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