As it turns out, St. John’s may have been just a quality win shy of reaching the NCAA Tournament.
The Johnnies landed one of four No. 1 seeds in the 32-team NIT, which traditionally go to the teams that are the last four out of the Big Dance, along with SMU — the NCAA’s biggest snub — Florida State and Minnesota.
“I don’t know the particulars this year that went into building the NCAA Tournament field, but historically the one-seeds in the NIT represent the first four out in terms of the NCAA Tournament,” St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said Sunday night on a conference call. “It’s pretty evident that we’re grouped with other teams that were considered to be right on the edge of making the NCAA Tournament.”
After starting 0-5 in the Big East, St. John’s (20-12) finished the regular season strong, winning 11 of its last 14 games to play its way into consideration. A Big East Tournament quarterfinal loss to Providence, which went on to win the tournament and receive an automatic berth into the field of 68, may have pushed the Johnnies to the wrong side of the bubble.
St. John’s will begin the postseason tournament Tuesday night at Carnesecca Arena against Northeast Conference champion Robert Morris.
Lavin said St. John’s practiced on Sunday, and while a few staff members and players watched the selection show, there wasn’t a team-wide gathering. They were more focused on preparing to play a game this coming week.
“My father played in the NIT back in the ’50s, so I have an appreciation for the rich tradition and heritage of what this tournament represents when it comes to college basketball history,” Lavin said.
“We’re fired up because it’s about playing more games. We have a term we use, which is ‘next play.’ So we have to turn our attention now to Robert Morris.”
MAAC regular-season champion Iona (22-10) landed a six-seed in the Florida State quadrant and will visit No. 3-seed Louisiana Tech Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Lavin is confident St. John’s will be ready to play on Tuesday, despite not realizing its preseason expectations. The new goal is to get to the Garden for the NIT semifinals on April 1.
“My sense is the team is focused on getting ready for a game,” Lavin said. “Naturally the goal this year was to play in the NCAA Tournament and we had aspirations to participate in March Madness. But this group has quickly turned its attention to playing in the NIT, and we recognize it’s an honor to be a one-seed and be able to play in front of our own fans.”
Stony Brook (23-10) accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and will face Siena Tuesday in Albany at 7 p.m. Columbia (19-12) will be in the College Invitational Tournament (CIT) and meet Valparaiso on Tuesday.