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.
Rick Pitino has at St John's:
— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) January 29, 2025
- The #5 Defense in the country
- One of the best rebounding teams in the country
- And now Kadary Richmond returning to form
Not sure there is a ceiling for these Johnnies
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.
18-straight games with 7 or more rebounds for Zuby Ejiofor 💪
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) January 29, 2025
That's the longest active streak in NCAA Division I‼️
→ 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙋𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙮 pic.twitter.com/szQsah479f
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.