The season the St. John’s basketball team has put together has been nothing short of remarkable.
The Johnnies — ranked No. 12 in the latest Associated Press Top-25 Poll — have been shattering stats in the program’s record book and reaching heights that haven’t been seen in Queens in at least two decades.
However, the NCAA Tournament legitimacy of the team will be determined in February, beginning with No. 11 Marquette on Tuesday night (6:30 p.m. ET, FS1) inside Madison Square Garden.
"Every game in February takes on a different meaning because it's moving time in February for everybody," Rick Pitino said on Monday afternoon.
In its 11 conference games, the Red Storm have yet to play the Golden Eagles or No. 19 UConn and its lone matchup with Creighton was a 1-point loss on the road in which the team only scored 55 points.
The Johnnies have yet to defeat a ranked team this season, only have one Quad 1 win, and haven’t played a ranked team since its double overtime loss against Baylor in the Bahamas, who is no longer ranked.
Pitino’s team will play the Huskies twice, Marquette and the Bluejays once — both on its home floor — and have road trips to Villanova, DePaul, and Butler in the 28-day swing.
"I think we're ready," he added.
The Johnnies already landed a victory in the short month, a nail-biting 2-point win over Providence in which the Friars erased a 19-point second half deficit in eight minutes, and its turnaround this week to play two games in four days is arguably the most difficult task of the season.
Still, St. John’s has shown incredible resilience this year to overcome heartbreaking losses and double-digit deficits while changing the goal of its season to not only make the NCAA Tournament but potentially earn a Top-4 seed and make the second weekend.
If the Red Storm can emerge from February with any resemblance of January, there is no limit for what this team can do during the postseason, but if there are more road bumps than expected -- or losses quickly begin to pile up – many will be questioning the path that the Johnnies used to build its gaudy record and if it can make it out of the first weekend.
Time will tell if St. John’s will be a March Madness contender or pretender.