St. John’s Rekindles Memories Of When The Storm Were Men
Folks of a certain age remember when St. John’s basketball was bigger than the Knicks.
The program, then called “The Redmen” until it was changed to the more politically correct ‘Red Storm” in 1994, earned 15 NCAA Tournament berths in 17 seasons, capturing an NIT title in one of the “down” years. As a founding member of The Big East Conference, their games were must-see appointment viewing, as encapsulated excellently in ESPN’s “Requiem For The Big East” 30-for-30 documentary. Madison Square Garden rocked during the biggest rivalry matchups.
The players from the squad that went to the 1985 Final Four, not to mention the late Head Coach Lou Carnesecca, were the toast of New York City. Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Willie Glass, Bill Wennington, Mark Jackson, et al were celebrated even after falling to eventual champion Georgetown in the national semifinal.
Carnesecca’s teams continued to thrive, winning the conference tournament the following season in a thriller over Syracuse and reaching the Elite Eight in 1991 before his retirement one year later.
Meanwhile, the Knicks ranged from decent to downright awful. That is, until they hired a young college coach named Rick Pitino in 1987. During his two seasons, the Knicks started to become interesting. And after Pitino left, Patrick Ewing helped take New York to new levels.
Unfortunately, for reasons beyond my knowledge (the end to the shady dorm allowances?), St. John’s post-Carnesecca basketball slowly devolved. Despite some highly-regarded coaches (Fran Fraschilla, Mike Jarvis, and Steve Lavin) stopping by, the program’s annual invitations to March Madness were rarities. The 2000 team was the last to win the Big East Tournament and the subsequent iterations over the last 25 seasons have gone just 2-4 in NCAA Tournament play.
Not even Mullin himself could resurrect the glory days—he went 59-73 during his four seasons on the bench. By combining that precipitous drop in relevance with my growing personal preference for the pro version, St. John’s fell off my radar except for the isolated times when they were playing meaningful games in March.
It took Pitino just two seasons to get me back on board. St. John’s, which hired Pitino prior to last season despite his turbulent and scandal-ridden tenure at Louisville that forced him to work in Greece for a couple of years, is again New York City’s darlings after a triumphant run through the Big East regular season and conference tournament, finishing the job with an 82-66 beatdown of No. 2-seeded Creighton in Saturday night’s Final at the raucous Garden.
Pitono’s team is easy to root for. It would be too simplistic to call it a playground style, even if the passion and physicality is familiar to those who have experienced runs on blacktops in the City’s schools and parks. For the Red Storm combines that 40-minute, all-out effort with intelligence. Through all their pressure they put on opponents at both ends, they know when to slow the game down and can succeed accordingly with players like Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis Jr. among the country’s best at breaking defense’s down and making high-IQ basketball decisions.
Most pundits expect St. John’s to be a No. 2 seed when Tournament action gets underway this coming week. I haven’t seen enough of the competition to give you a detailed analysis of their prospects, though I’d be concerned about their 30% three-point percentage that ranks 341st in the country out of 355 programs, per NCAA.com. In addition, Richmond’s 56% free throw rate is scary for a player you want with the ball in his hands during crunch time.
However, St. John’s does so many of the little things that win games and you can never count them out even when they fall behind because of their ability to wear you down. Pitino made sure to emphasize that the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Luis, who went off for 27 of his 29 points after halftime, cemented the championship with two offensive rebounds off missed free throws down the stretch.
Watching the final seconds and ensuing celebration, I couldn’t help but rekindle the memories of those long-ago days when the Storm were Men.
I'm a 51 yr old Michigan native and even I remember being glued to the TV when Lou's "Redman" were playing. At a time when the college game was way more provincial than it is now, the Big East ruled the national spotlight.