The drought is over? Embracing the Storm

Posted by Matt Norlander
You can sense that, “Oh, no, I won’t let it happen to me again” feeling with this team, can’t you? We — the fans, the college basketball media, the community at large — are not quite ready to buy in. Who can blame us?
Right now, many don’t want to be thinking it, but are — is St. John’s a fraud?
New coach, a bunch of seniors that’ve never proven anything before. This is a flash in the pan, this 3-0 start in the loaded Big East for a team that’s not even a shell of the program it was a score (and many, many scores) ago.
Can’t be for real, right?
No. Wrong.
This St. John’s team, it exists, I assure you, and it is for real, though “real” can and must be quantified. At the very least, I have to proclaim Steve Lavin’s team is no fraud. Not with a win on the road at West Virginia and clutch home victory over Georgetown, one of the most efficient, adaptable teams in the nation. That win over then-undefeated Northwestern was a feel-gooder as well.

But back to that game against Georgetown Monday night — that was fun. A lot of fun! And in terms of the team’s recent history, it was unprecedented. The Johnnies held off a storming Hoyas squad late. It was a trade-your-punches type of game at the Garden. G-town’s gotten used to winning those types of games (even if they have been prone to lose close ones this year) under John Thompson III. Often times, before The Arrival really happens for a team — before they win that super-duper-big game — a few smaller-yet-still-important victories come along the way.
That’s what the Georgetown win signified. Whether St. John’s makes it back to relevance in three weeks or a full year from now, Lavin and those in the program will no doubt point to the Jan. 3, 2011, win over the Hoyas as the ever-important turning point. The corner that got turned. Clichés will abound, and they’ll all be true.
New York City has been pump-faked by this program many times since the early part of last decade (oh, how badly does NYC and the Big East want St. John’s to be good again; the argument could be made it’s a greater desire than the NBA’s craving for a competent Knicks club), but with this sort of evidence, it may be time to for Red Storm fans to let down their guard and allow this team a chance to fulfill and break their hearts.
Breaking hearts is OK; at least that will be some sort of emotion, which hasn't hovered around the program in, again, a long, long time. And in order to have a heart broken, expectations have to be lifted. Lavin, surprising and converting a few along the way, appears to be the guy to do it.
If you’re a college basketball fan who’s still in college, then you probably barely know anything about the Red Storm. This team has been on the bad side of mediocre basketball for as long as you’ve paid attention to the sport. St. John’s hasn’t won 20 games in a season since 2003. Hasn’t made an NCAA Tournament since 2002. The previous drought that lasted this long … never happened. The ’53-’58 dry spell was the darkest period in St. John’s hoops prior to the past eight years.
The natural progression of a column like this is usually to explain why all of this is happening. I can’t give you all the answers, but I do want to give you a couple to pack for lunch. This column is as much about St. John’s being on its way back as explaining why that’s happening. Let’s talk about that now.
The team has eight seniors, led by Dwight Hardy (right), and that is absolutely helping. The Johnnies are the fourth-oldest team in the country, and also on the shorter side. Lavin’s gotten lucky with that (could be a tiny part of why he took the job, to have that first year he knew wouldn’t be utter chaos with a bunch of newbies), because all that experience and closer dribbles to the floor (not a lot of beanstalks on this team) means the Storm's one of the best at not turning the ball over.

Another positive sign: St. John’s doesn’t allow teams to get to the foul line at an unusual rate, yet squads are making a higher percentage of their charity chucks (74.3) against the Storm than all but 13 other teams in the country. That means the Johnnies are a bit unlucky. Expect that percentage to worm its way down, slowly, as Big East play continues. The conference is notorious for its plethora of foul-shot opportunities, and with more opportunities comes more misses.
The 3-0 record out of the Big East gate will wind up being a life preserver of sorts, because there's not a good chance Lavin's team can get out of January (2-0 right now) with a better-than-.500 record. Not when the team has Notre Dame (twice), Syracuse, Louisville, undefeated Cincinnati, a rematch on the road with Georgetown and a home game against Duke.
Losses are going to come, but getting a head start in the race — no one else is 3-0 in the conference right now — is crucial. It’s what catalyzes columns like this and indicates change, finally, is come — if it hasn’t already. The win Monday night and the ones over West Virginia and Providence (eh) on the road probably offset the bad losses to Fordham and St. Bonaventure earlier in the season.
Expect St. John's to be in the bubble conversation well into February.
Lavin and Co., and Red Storm fans, can feel good. Not comfortable, but good. And we, the college basketball community, can get excited about the Big East having its centralized team back in the mix — for now. The Big East is better, for many reasons, because St. John's is finally proving it can get better — and hopefully stay that way for seasons to come.
Photos: US PRESSWIRE

extracted from cbssports.com