Syracuse & St Johns battle in Big East Tournament

Sometimes you need a few breaks to help you along the way. That’s exactly what happened to the St Johns Red Storm on Wednesday as they narrowly escaped against Rutgers. A series of non-calls down the stretch, and the game ending with a St Johns player walking off the court with time on the clock is what it took for the Red Storm to get to their 2nd round game against the Syracuse Orange on Thursday.

The poor officiating at the end of that game will be scrutinized and talked about for year, but we can blame St Johns for being on the right side of some bad calls. They will carry the momentum gained from their win against the Scarlett Knights into their match-up with ‘Cuse. These teams met just once during the regular season. The Red Storm hosted the then 16-0 Orange in what turned out to be another notch in the win column for Syracuse. Things have changed dramatically for both teams since their last meeting. Syracuse went on to lose 6 of their next 9 games, and the Red Storm have rattled off 5 wins against top-25 opponents.

Neither one of these squads is concerned about their NCAA tournament status as they have both cemented a bid due to their overall record, strength of schedule and top-25 rankings. However, moving into a higher seed is still something both teams are striving for.

St Johns has been a huge surprise this season as most college basketball handicappers picked them to finish towards the middle of the pack in the tough Big East conference. A 12-6 conference record left them in a tie for 4th place just 3 games behind the highly touted Pittsburgh Panthers. Head coach Steve Lavin has been criticized as being a fraud throughout his coaching career, but no one will deny the fact that he is a tremendously talented motivator. His determination to be good has rubbed off on this 2010-11 Red Storm team, and has put them in a position to make an impact in the post-season.

St Johns is led by their senior guard Dwight Hardy. Hardy is one of 9 seniors that make up this experienced St Johns squad, which a huge factor in their success this year. Hardy is their go-to scorer as he averages almost 18 points per contest, but forwards Justin Brownlee and D.J. Kennedy are reason why they have been able to beat teams on the interior as well. They will need to be at their best against a Syracuse team that has some terrific forwards of their own.

The ‘Cuse have settled down after their mid-season slide, and have run off 5 straight wins to finish the regular season. They’re hoping their final game is a sign of things to come as they dropped the hammer on DePaul with a 107-59 win at home. Obviously the task will get much tougher as they take on ranked foes in the conference tournament, but they have regained the confidence that was lacking in the middle of the year.

The Orange are a very balanced team that can beat teams on both sides of the court. They currently rank 61st in points per game, 47th in rebounding, 18th in assists and 20th in field goal percentage. You will not find better numbers across the board outside of a handful of teams. They are led in scoring by junior forward Kris Joseph, but the Orange have 4 players that can take over a game on any given day. Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche all average over 10 points per game, and with Joseph combine for 51 of the teams 72 points per contest. This team is very dangerous and wouldn’t surprise basketball experts if they’re left holding up the National Championship trophy when the tournament is done.

Tune in Thursday as these 2 power-houses collide in what should be a typical hard-fought Big East battle!

Related posts:

1. Big East Showdown: W. Virginia & Syracuse
2. Big East Heavyweights Collide: Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh
3. Connecticut faces tough challenge against St Johns
4. Syracuse and South Florida in Big East Showdown
5. Big East Battle of Top 10′s Fight for Conference Title

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