The St. John’s Red Storm may not be the highest ranked team in the Big East or the nation at the moment, but with their momentum building at just the right time, this team has a puncher’s chance in both the Big East tournament and March Madness.
The Red Storm have put together some fine performances down the stretch in their conference, and their game against Providence on Thursday pits them against a team they are below in the standings but have nonetheless beaten twice this season. As you might expect, the keys to success for the Red Storm against the Friars are much the same as the keys for their success in the big dance.
The odds at this NCAA basketball betting site list the Red Storm as distant +40,000 long shots to win the National Championship in 2015, but putting too much focus on that number would be looking past the immediate focus, which is getting a couple strong performances together against elite competition. Once you’ve got that going, anything can happen.
Score, Score, Score – The Red Storm are led by their offense, there’s no doubt about that. At 71.1 points per game, their 75th in the nation in scoring. St. John’s only lost once when they scored 70 points or more this year, per ESPN.
Defend the Three – In both of their wins during the season against Providence, the Red Storm got out to challenge the Friars outside shooters, holding Providence to under 30% shooting from beyond the arc in each game.
Secondary Scoring – St. John’s has four players averaging 13 points or more per game and…it falls off in a big way after that. If Jamal Branch can produce above his 5.9 points per game average when it counts, he could help extend the run.