This used to be St. John’s role in the Big East Tournament.
Play well in the out-bracket round and hope to pull a stunner in the opener on quarterfinal Thursday. Sometimes, the Johnnies were blitzed out of the gate. Other times, they suffered crushing last-second losses.
But this — the No. 1 seed — is different.
It, however, seems to suit Rick Pitino’s team just fine. It played the part of the favorite to a tee, leading from wire to wire in a thorough 78-57 throttling of ninth-seeded Butler. Friday night, it will play for a spot in the tournament title game against the No. 4 Xavier/No. 5 Marquette winner.
St. John’s raced out to an early 15-point lead and cruised to its 10th win in as many tries at the Garden. It was hardly tested by Butler, which pushed the Red Storm in two close games during the regular season. This had a very different feel.Butler was as close as eight early in the second half, but St. John’s answered with a 10-0 run. It was extended garbage time, as Marv Albert would say, the rest of the way.
The Johnnies (28-4) led by as many as 23 points and Pitino went deep into his bench. A day after he became St. John’s first Big East Player of the Year in 39 years, RJ Luis scored 20 points to go along with seven rebounds
Play well in the out-bracket round and hope to pull a stunner in the opener on quarterfinal Thursday. Sometimes, the Johnnies were blitzed out of the gate. Other times, they suffered crushing last-second losses.
But this — the No. 1 seed — is different.
It, however, seems to suit Rick Pitino’s team just fine. It played the part of the favorite to a tee, leading from wire to wire in a thorough 78-57 throttling of ninth-seeded Butler. Friday night, it will play for a spot in the tournament title game against the No. 4 Xavier/No. 5 Marquette winner.
St. John’s raced out to an early 15-point lead and cruised to its 10th win in as many tries at the Garden. It was hardly tested by Butler, which pushed the Red Storm in two close games during the regular season. This had a very different feel.Butler was as close as eight early in the second half, but St. John’s answered with a 10-0 run. It was extended garbage time, as Marv Albert would say, the rest of the way.
The Johnnies (28-4) led by as many as 23 points and Pitino went deep into his bench. A day after he became St. John’s first Big East Player of the Year in 39 years, RJ Luis scored 20 points to go along with seven rebounds
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