By Anthony Bosco
The St. John's Red Storm will make its play for the Big East Tournament Championship this week. Winning the tournament would certainly help the Red Storm's NCAA Tournament seeding, as well as give the team a boost in confidence following a disappointing loss in Miami this past weekend to end the regular season.
The road will not be easy, however, with both Miami and Notre Dame, two teams that defeated the Red Storm in the regular season, lying in wait for a possible semifinal match-up Friday night.
“The only thing I'm thinking about is Thursday night [the Red Storm's first game],” Jarvis said. “Hopefully, we'll have to worry about that. We're concerned about St. John's and nobody else.”
The Big East Tournament has been seen all season long as a true test of the Red Storm's might heading into the NCAA Tournament. The specter of playing three games of consecutive days should push Jarvis' small, thin team to the brink.
St. John's has already shown the ability to perform against top-rated teams with little rest, beating Syracuse, Connecticut and Duke in one week this year, marking the first time in history a team has defeated the defending national champion and runner-up in back-to-back games.
“This is just another season, the Big East Tournament season,” Jarvis said.
Miami comes into the tournament as the wild card, having earned a share of the regular season title with Syracuse after beating St. John's Sunday. The unheralded Hurricanes bring a 20-9 overall mark and a 13-3 Big East record into the tournament.
Syracuse retains the top seed by virtue of winning the tie-breaking format over Miami. Had St. John's beaten the Hurricanes this past weekend, the Red Storm would have been the top seed.
“Every game with Miami is tough,” the coach said. “[My team] would have preferred to win [the Big East] outright. It was important, but it wasn't the end-all-be-all.”
If the seedings hold through Wednesday, the second round offers several interesting match-ups Thursday, with Seton Hall, which played Providence, facing UConn – expected winners over Boston College – and Miami playing Notre Dame, which had to face tough Rutgers in the first round.
St. John's would have to contend with No. 6 Villanova, a team the Red Storm managed to beat by three during the regular season, or, No. 11 Pittsburgh.
Syracuse will play the winner of West Virginia-Georgetown.
The semifinals will be held at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday with the finals being played Saturday at 8 p.m.
