It’s not over until it’s over and no one who knows St. John’s coach Norm Roberts expected him to stop working until he was told to do so.
Roberts and the Red Storm got a second chance to prove itself by being invited to the NIT. The Red Storm got a No.6 seed and will play at Memphis on Wednesday night in a first-round game.
The Post reported exclusively last week that St. John’s would not retain Roberts for a seventh season. The only remote possibility that the administration would reconsider is if the team went on a deep run in the tournament.
“Nothing’s been discussed about any of that stuff,” Roberts said . “I know everybody puts things out in the paper and on the Internet and all that stuff.”
“We haven’t evaluated our whole season until our season is over,” added Roberts. “And that’s what we do every single year. We evaluate when the entire season’s over. Then we evaluate where the program is. So me and [athletic director] Chris [Monasch] and the administration we haven’t talked anything about that because we knew the season was still in play.”
The Red Storm (17-15) was playing its best ball in the Big East Tournament before losing 57-55 to Marquette in a first-round game. Memphis, which played in the NCAA title game two years ago, is now coached by Josh Pastner, who took over for John Calipari.
Roberts said his team practiced on Friday and Sunday. He’s been operating with a business as usual approach, not worrying about his status.
“I’m not worried about that,” he said. “I’m concentrating on our team, our team being as good as they can be. It’s a great opportunity for not only our staff but also for our team.”
“These kids have a chance to keep playing and it also shows that we had a pretty good year,” he added. “We showed people in America that we were a pretty team and one of the Top 100 teams in the country and now we have a chance to keep playing.”