Fansided

The Knicks aren't even the hottest basketball team in New York City

In their second season under Rick Pitino, St. John's doesn't just look like a Big East contender — they look like national title hopefuls.

By Quinn Everts

St. John's v Xavier
St. John's v Xavier / Dylan Buell/GettyImages
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The New York Knicks are cooking; they're 31-16, winners of four straight games and have a legit case as the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Somehow, they're not even the best team in their own city right now. After decimating Georgetown on Tuesday, the St. John's Red Storm improved to 18-3, and 9-1 in Big East play.

They're No. 15 in KENPOM, will likely inch toward the top 10 in next week's AP Poll and could take control of the Big East if they beat Marquette at MSG early next week. Picked to finish fifth in the Big East in the conference preseason poll behind UConn, Xavier, Creighton and Marquette, St. John was expected to be good... but not quite this good.

The Johnnies thrive on ugliness. That may sound derogatory, but it's a great thing — this team takes pride in its defense, and scoring over 65 points against them should count as, like, half a win.

St. John's is running through the Big East

Paced by do-it-all guard Kadary Richmond and a breakout year from Zuby Ejiofor, the Red Storm have blitzed the Big East, with their only conference loss coming against Creighton by one point early in the slate.

After being a late-bench option at Kansas his freshman year and then last year after transferring to St. John's, Ejiofor has exploded onto the scene as a consistent post force for coach Rick Pitino, averaging 14.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

As of right now, ESPN's Bracketology has St. John's as a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but if the Johnnies keep playing how they have been, I see them grabbing a No. 4 or No. 5 seed when March rolls around. That would be easier if the rest of the conference — namely Xavier and Creighton, who were both picked as tourney shoe-ins before the season — started playing up to their potential as the season progresses.

But no matter how the rest of the conference looks, this St. John's team is almost guaranteed to wreck havoc in March. They're already wrecking havoc in the Big East as we speak. Rick Pitino's still got it.

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