St. John’s Red Storm will have a difficult second season under Chris Mullin as they play one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
The St. John’s Red Storm made some news last season when they hired alum and Hall of Famer Chris Mullin. Mullin replaced former head coach Steve Lavin and was essentially starting over from scratch.
In Lavin’s last season with St. John’s, the Red Storm made the NCAA Tournament. Despite losing in the Round of 64, you would think this was a program trending in the right direction. Unfortunately, that team was senior laden and none of the top players returned. The Red Storm played essentially a six-man rotation of D’Angelo Harrison, Sir’Dominic Pointer, Phil Greene, Chris Obekpa, Jamal Branch, and Rysheed Jordan.
Harrison, Pointer, Greene, and Branch were all seniors and moved on after the season. Mullin was hoping to have Jordan and Obekpa back, but for multiple reasons both players left the program.
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That left Mullin without much experience or past production on the roster; Jordan and Obekpa were expected to be the backbone of the transition for Mullin.
Without them, Mullin’s roster was pretty bare in his first season as head coach. The Red Storm struggled mightily his first season, going 8-24. They just did not have the talent to stack up in the Big East, which is a stronger conference than people give it credit for.
The same can be said for the 2016-17 season. The Big East projects to be the third toughest conference in the nation according to ESPN’s BPI. That means it will be tough sledding for the Red Storm again this season. Not only do they have a difficult conference schedule, they have some difficult games prior to conference play as well.
As a result, the Red Storm have one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA this season. Here is what Sharon Katz said about the Red Storm’s schedule this season.
"After finishing last season 8-24, Chris Mullin and the Red Storm have a difficult path to improve on that record. With teams such as Georgetown and Creighton expected to improve this season, the Big East has the third-highest average BPI of any conference. St. John’s doesn’t get to play itself, by far the lowest-ranked team in the league. Add in nonconference games against Michigan State and potentially a number of other top-tier programs in the Battle 4 Atlantis, and St. John’s has the Big East’s toughest overall schedule."
In addition to Georgetown and Creighton, the Big East also has two top-10 teams already in defending National Champion Villanova and Xavier. Right now St. John’s has eight games against ranked teams.
There will be no easy games at the Battle 4 Atlantis either. In addition to Michigan State, Louisville is another ranked team taking part in the tournament. Mid-Major powers Wichita State and VCU will also be there in addition to Baylor, LSU, and Old Dominion. There is an argument that could be made that the Red Storm are the weakest team partaking and could be fodder for the other teams for early season victories.
Mullin has begun rebuilding the program. He has multiple ESPN Top-100 rated prospects on the roster that can grow together. But, there will probably be a lot more losing this season. That is part of the rebuilding process and something they will have to deal with. Hopefully Mullin can keep his players upbeat and continue recruiting well.
They did get the season off to a good start, defeating Bethune-Cookman 100-53 in their first game of the season. That could be the best game the Red Storm have all season, but an opening season win always feels good, especially knowing the tough road that lies ahead.