It feels like we’ve been here before, an early dose of March Madness courtesy of Steve Lavin and his Johnnies.
Two years ago, in Lavin’s first season at St. John’s, a team that had fallen flat on its face — blowing a 21-point second-half lead at Fordham in mid-December to fall to 5-3 — became the talk of the town in late January and February.
Fast forward to this season. The Red Storm blew a 17-point lead at home and lost to UNC-Asheville at Carnesecca Arena to fall to 8-4.
But the Johnnies won their third straight Big East road game Wednesday night, a thorough 82-70 triumph at Rutgers. It is their first three-game road win streak since — you got it — the 2010-11 season, when St. John’s returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
Déjà vu?
In 2010-11, Justin Brownlee emerged as one of the most versatile forwards in the Big East. This season, JaKarr Sampson, after winning his fourth Big East Rookie of the Week honor, torched the Scarlet Knights for 21 points and seven rebounds.
In 2010-11, Dwight Hardy emerged as one of the top scorers in the league. This season, D’Angelo Harrison has continued to score against frequent double-teaming while playing a much more patient game.
So here we are, about to make the turn into February, when college basketball becomes relevant, and the Johnnies are 12-7 and 4-3 in the Big East, tied for fourth place. They host Seton Hall (13-6, 2-4) tomorrow and DePaul (10-8, 1-4) on Wednesday, putting a 6-3 league start well within reach.
So will the Johnnies go dancing for the second time in three seasons? Uh, don’t book any hotel rooms just yet.
The 2010-11 squad had upperclassmen galore: Hardy, Brownlee, Justin Burrell, D.J. Kennedy, Paris Horne, Malik Boothe and Sean Evans were seniors.
There are no seniors on the 2012-13 team. There are no juniors. There are some very talented players, but they still haven’t been through enough Big East battles.
The 2010-11 team was hungrier than a pack of hyenas. This team doesn’t have a lot of scars. The sophomores can blame last season’s 13-19 record on the fact Lavin was recovering from prostate cancer surgery. They respected fill-in coach Mike Dunlap, but they didn’t like him.
The 2010-11 team made its run against a who’s who of college basketball: Duke, UConn, Pitt, Marquette, Cincinnati and Villanova. This three-game win streak came against a soft Notre Dame team, a bad DePaul team and a schizophrenic Rutgers team.
After Seton Hall and DePaul, the Johnnies begin a grueling four-game stretch beginning Feb. 2 at Georgetown. The Hoyas blew out the Johnnies 67-51 two weeks ago at the Garden in a game that wasn’t that close. Then come a visit from UConn and trips to Syracuse and Louisville.
After that stretch, we’ll have a better handle on this St. John’s team. If the Red Storm get to 6-3, they very easily could fall to 6-7. Then the NCAA Tournament dream likely would be put on hold for another year.
This doesn’t mean St. John’s fans should go into group therapy. If this team returns intact — and it should because as talented as Sampson, Harrison, Chris Obekpa and Sir’Dom Pointer are, they are not projected first-round draft choices — St. John’s will be one of the teams to beat in the league next season.
When he was hired, Lavin talked about building a program with sustained success. This is the foundation.
If you’re a St. John’s fan, that’s not bad.