It’s been nearly a week since the St. John’s basketball season ended and its offseason will officially begin on Tuesday when the transfer portal opens, but it’s time to reflect on what the Red Storm accomplished this season.
After the preseason saw championship aspirations, the Red Storm stumbled coming out of the gates of the season, losing its Associated Press ranking, before truly finding its stride and dominating the Big East. In the end, the Johnnies were one of the best teams in the country entering the NCAA Tournament.
But we look at some of the biggest takeaways from the St. John’s basketball season.
The non-conference portion of the schedule was very important
Like it or not, the non-conference sputtering was the biggest reason St. John’s did not advance further in the NCAA Tournament.
Had the Red Storm defeated Alabama, Iowa State, Auburn, or Kentucky it likely would not have been a No. 5 seed in the East Region and bowed out of March Madness in the Sweet 16 against top-seed Duke.
The perceived struggling Big East did not do the Johnnies any favors but with a heavy influx of new players coming to the program this offseason, it will be imperative for St. John’s to get much better results during non-conference play for its postseason seeding.
Backcourt was underwhelming
There were major expectations put on the St. John’s basketball backcourt entering the season and the results were pretty underwhelming.
Outside of Dylan Darling becoming a revelation and one of the team’s most clutch performers, the combination of him, Oziyah Sellers, Ian Jackson, and Joson Sanon were the weakest part of the Red Storm.
Each player shot worse from 3-point range this season than last year at their previous schools. Against Duke, it was the backcourt that proved to be costly in the blown 10-point lead.
It remains to be seen who will return to the Red Storm in the trio of Darling, Jackson, and Sanon but it’s clear that they either need to elevate their play going into next season or Rick Pitino must add stars to the backcourt.
Zuby Ejiofor deserved every award he received
The season – and career – that Zuby Ejiofor put together in a St. John’s basketball jersey will be talked about for a long time. Not only did he help set the culture of the program under Rick Pitino, but he had one of the best seasons in school history this year.
Ejiofor was the Big East Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Scholar Athletie of the Year, and was a unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team. He will be the Haggerty Award winner, which is presented later this month, and will be inducted into the St. John’s ‘Ring of Honor’ next season.
Despite not being named to any of the All-American team, which was a total snub, Zuby Ejiofor represented St. John’s with class and dignity until his final possession and will forever be remembered as a Red Storm legend.
The season was wildly successful
No matter how people want to look at this season, it was a major success for St. John’s. After it looked like the year could go sideways in early January following its loss to Providence, the Red Storm only dropped two games following that moment.
It became the first Big East team to ever win outright regular season and tournament titles in back-to-back seasons, and its Sweet 16 appearance was the first in program history since 1999.
Sure, there is disappointment for how the year ended and that UConn, its Big East rival, advanced to the Final Four out of its region but this will still be remembered as one of the best St. John’s teams ever despite some of its shortcomings.