St. John's basketball will hit a feat not seen since the late 1990s on Sunday. The Red Storm will appear in consecutive March Madness tournaments, a first since 1997 to 2000. Connecticut represents the last hurdle for the Big East Tournament.
Head coach Rick Pitino cemented history too. He's the first Red Storm coach since Mike Jarvis to lead consecutive tourney runs in Queens, N.Y. That run additionally came with a young Ron Artest leading those late 90s teams.
Expectations rose the moment the multiple national title winner Pitino arrived on campus. Now Red Storm fans envision a deep run in Pitino's third season at the helm.
However, St. John's still faces numerous nightmare scenarios ahead of Selection Sunday.
St. John's could fall to No. 5 seed
Securing the Big East title can assure St. John's will earn a two seed at the highest.
But a loss could drop it to No. 5 in one of the regionals.
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi predicts the latter ahead of Sunday's pairings. Lunardi plugs St. John's landing in the Tampa regional. But a McNeese State team featuring hefty tourney experience would await them.
The Cowboys feature one of the better defenses in the nation. Backed by forcing an astonishing 17 turnovers per game against foes. They also allow an average of less than 54 shot attempts a game, including forcing teams to shoot from three.
St. John's shoots at 33.8% from long range. And the three-game became awful against UConn back on Feb. 25. This potential McNeese State-St. John's pairing spells upset alert if both are announced as a matchup.
And that's not the only nightmare scenario in this situation.
Another upset-minded team could face St. John's
The Red Storm are picked to land at No. 5 through CBS Sports bracketology too. But they head east to face one more seasoned tournament representative in Akron.
The Zips can land a third straight tourney bid under John Groce. And this year's Akron team is one more win away from breaking the school record for single-season wins.
Akron, though, is more offensive minded compared to McNeese State. Groce's teams prefer to run at a high-tempo and shoot the lights out. The Zips equally are formidable at grabbing offensive rebounds to keep possessions going.
But St. John's can take advantage of a dismal defense if this is a first round contest. Akron allowed more than 73 points 14 times this season ahead of the MAC Conference title game.
Tournament still gets tougher for St. John's if they face this No. 1 seed
St. John's needs to avoid the upset first against a likely mid-major foe. But then possibly face potential top NBA Draft pick Darryn Peterson and Kansas per the CBS bracket picks.
It gets rugged from there, with Duke possibly becoming the Sweet 16 opponent.
The Red Storm likely will hope they don't land in the East regional, or any scenario where Duke is the No. 1. The Blue Devils are way too deep with shooters and bigs who can overwhelm anyone in the country.
Pitino must rely on experience and far better three-point shooting to make a Final Four run.
