Ahead of conference tournament week, the Red Storm made a nice leap in the rankings. St. John’s were ranked lucky No. 13 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll, moving up five spots following wins over Georgetown and Seton Hall. The Red Storm were also 13th in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll.
This matches the Red Storm’s second-highest ranking in a single poll this season, when they were also the 13th-ranked
team in the week 2 poll on November 10. St. John’s started the season as the No. 5 team in the country, their highest preseason ranking in program history.
Of the 19 polls released so far this season, the Red Storm received a ranking in 14 of them, marking the program’s most inclusions in the AP poll since the 1998-99 season when they appeared 16 times in the rankings. Last season’s 31-win Johnnies team made 12 appearances in the AP poll.
Last week, St. John’s earned back-to-back outright Big East regular season titles for the first time in program history following a win over Seton Hall and a loss by UConn. The Red Storm also reached 20 wins for a third straight season and 25 wins for a second straight season, accomplishing both for the first time since the 1999-00 season.
Big East foe UConn fell two spots to No. 6 following their stunning 68-62 upset loss to Marquette in their regular season finale. Villanova was unranked for another week and received ten votes.
The 13th-ranked Red Storm (25-6, 18-2 Big East) will begin their Big East Tournament title defense when they take on the winner of the first-round matchup between Butler and Providence on Thursday, March 12. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m., and the game can be streamed on Peacock.
