With one game left in the Big East’s regular season, the bottom four of the league are set for Big East Tournament seeding purposes, as are the top two. Villanova will take the top spot, with Butler #2, while the bottom four are:
7. Xavier | 8. St. John’s | 9. Georgetown | 10. DePaul
St. John’s will face Georgetown in the 7:00 PM game on Wednesday, March 8th. If the Red Storm win, they move on to play Villanova at noon on Thursday, March 9th.
On one hand, that looks like a chance at a win - playing at home, against a Georgetown team that St. John’s just beat at home, and a Hoya team that has also lost to DePaul.
On the other hand, Georgetown is really large and can stifle St. John’s as they did in the first meeting. And despite what the fans think about John Thompson III, there’s a solid chance that he’s not going anywhere, being the son of the iconic “Big John” Thompson. So maybe the Hoyas will step up and get him a win to salve the wounds of this season - especially after possible losing five in a row and seven of eight (assuming a loss to Villanova on Saturday).
The Hoyas, whose outside shooting and turnover rates have bedeviled what has been a good defense, are legitimately talented and capable of beating the Red Storm in front of the Johnnies’ home fans.
Can St. John’s get the level of effort together for the win? Can Shamorie Ponds and Federico Mussini put on another scoring show - with more help from Marcus LoVett? Will the big men - the ones who finished the game ended with three or four fouls each - be able to stay on the floor?