A Tiger in a Storm

After Wednesday's loss to Marquette at Madison Square Garden it was figured St. Johns was done for the season and the next day all the rumors came out that Coach Norm Roberts was to be fired that day.

Well people, you're 0 for 2.

St. John's season is yet to be over and Norm Roberts is still the coach.

St. Johns learned yesterday that they have been invited to the National Invitational Tournament, also known as the NIT, as a 6th seed. They will face 3 seeded The Memphis Tigers Wednesday at 9pm in Memphis.

So the season is not over and The Red Storm have more to play for. Question is how long will they last in the NIT and how many wins will it take to secure Norm Roberts job for another year.

My answers to these questions are, Memphis a beatable team. Their bench is weak according to a source of mine and if St. Johns can tire them out they can win the game. We all know St. Johns has a deep bench that can come in and contribute so it shouldn't be a problem. If St. Johns wins they will have to face the winner of Mississippi and Troy.

I feel for Norm Roberts to keep his job, he has to go far and not win 1 or 2 games but get deep into the NIT Bracket and I'll go as far as a final four appearance to secure his job for at least another year.

Lots of questions still remain for this St. Johns Red Storm team but still a lot of basketball to be played before some of them can be answered.

- Kujtim 'Timmy' Dimas

As always follow me on Twitter @TCaspDeez for all sports insight.

Back to Back Wins for the Red Hot Red Storm

With 12 seconds remaining, on the road and with a bunch of fans on edge of their feet, St. Johns DJ Kennedy stepped to the free throw line to take and make both of his free throws giving St. Johns a one point lead 69-68 on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish which would ultimately be the final score after Troy Jackson misses a pair of 3's in the closing seconds.

The St. Johns Red Storm have claimed two straight victories against two Big East teams and possibly crushing those two teams chances at the big dance come March. First win coming against Louisville at Madison Square Garden and second coming last night against Notre Dame at the Joyce Center in South Bend Indiana.

Last nights game we saw even more things St. Johns was able to do that many haven't seen before. For the second game in a row The Johnnies hit over 73% of their free throws. They had a 20-11 assist to turnover ratio and they shot 50% from behind the arc.

Dwight Hardy, the leading scorer for St. Johns last night with 16 points, was making 3 pointers like it was just layups to him. Converting on 5-7 from three land and adding a spark off the bench.

Justin Burrell had another superb performance off the bench with 12 points 4 rebounds and 3 assist. Anthony Mason Jr. and DJ Kennedy both had 12 points 5+ rebounds and 4 assist to help St. Johns go 4-8 in Big East play and 14-10 overall record for the season.

Tonight was another night of two halves but for St. Johns, like their win over the Cardinals on Thursday, both halves belong to them.

Malik Boothe hit a buzzer beater to secure a lead for the Red Storm going into half 37-34. He had another great showing scoring 7 points and dishing out 5 assist and here's a fun fact, St. Johns is 6-2 when Boothe scores over 5 points. Not only offensively but defensively Boothe did a wonderful job. He held his man Troy Jackson to 1-10 from the field and 5 turnovers.

For this St. Johns team this wasn't just a win. It was a confidence builder in a game where Coach Norm Roberts said that "This is one of the toughest place to play in". And according to Mark Fratto, The Red Storm Director of Athletic Communications, said via Twitter "When Coach got to the locker room postgame, the whole team picked him up and carried him around. FAMILY" Through highs and lows a family always sticks together and St. Johns is definitely sticking together.

St. Johns looks to grab another Big East win this Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena against The Seton Hall Pirates (14-9, 4-7 Big East). Game time is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

With six games remaining St. Johns looks to make up for a season people thought could be theirs. Two of the remaining six games are against Nationally Ranked Syracuse Orange and The Pittsburgh Panthers. Both games which could be big boosters for a chance to the NIT or even March Madness.

Follow me on twitter @TCaspDeez for more in College Sports and Major League Sports

The Storm is Coming

On a night when St. Johns honored the old school and rocked out in their new school look, there was a ray of hope on the future of this team for this season and next years.

After five straight losses, leaving them at 2-8 in the Big East, The St. Johns Red Storm came out with energy in the first half and made sure they didn't render it in the second. Aggressive defense and smart offensive work by the whole team helped The Red Storm men beat down Big East foe The Louisville Cardinals 74-55 at Madison Square Garden last night.

In the first half we as spectators saw what we have seen all year around in the first half from St. Johns. A strong 20 minute, well rounded and focused team. Samardo Samuels seemed to be the only man St. Johns could not stop in the first half allowing him to score Louisville's first 10 points in the game. He would only finish with 18 which shows you how good the defense did in reacting to their only problem on the night.

What stood out the most to me was their consistency and smart ball movement as well as their ability to maintain their lead through the whole second half. St. Johns has blown 6 half times leads this season, most recently to West Virgina this past Saturday at the Garden. But last night everyone stepped into their roles at different parts of the game which made it difficult for The Cardinals to keep up or defend one single player.

Justin Burrell was again a big time show for this team. Scoring 14 points which racks up his total to 5 out of the past 7 games in double digit scoring and grabbing 8 rebounds. All of this coming off the bench which has been something he wants to continue doing according to Coach Norm Roberts. The obvious scoring leader for St. Johns was D.J. Kennedy who scored 15 points hitting 9-10 free throws on a night where St. Johns shot a superb 77.8% from the line. "We got to build on this" is what Kennedy exclaimed after the game to reporters and that is definitely something they must do.

But there is one player I want to give a lot of credit to and that is Malik Boothe. Boothe is the starting point guard for this team and the floor general. He isn't going to be the one that scores a lot of points or dish out a bunch of assist but more of the guy that gets his teammates going. Last night though Malik Boothe scored 8 points, going 3-4 from the field as well as 2-2 from the line. He added 3 assist and 3 steals and really seemed determined to get into the paint. There were a bunch of times while he was driving where he was jabbed in the eye and at one point you'd figure he'd put some goggles on just to avoid another incident but he didn't. He showed his toughness and strong pursuit in helping this team get a victory which was definitely much needed.

All around this game was a solid effort. Norm Roberts said " I thought we made big plays, not shots, but plays at the gut of the game." That coach is something I will agree with you there. I never saw more and-one plays from St. Johns this season then last night. They were persistent in getting in the paint and muscling their defender down. St. Johns usually a good three point shooting team, really went away from it and took the game to the paint.

This was a great victory but the road isn't going to be easy here on out. Next up St. Johns travels to the home of The Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday to prove that this win last night wasn't just a win...It was a step into the right direction for a team that many have turned their backs to.

Follow me at (TCaspDeez) for more St. Johns info and other college basketball insight.

Thank you to ESPN for all the stats from last nights game and The New York Post for the picture