St. John's Dominance and Seeding Challenges Explained

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00:00Now, as far as the league goes, St. John's has already clinched that at 17-2.

00:06They've really run away with it here, incredibly in second.

00:09It's actually Creighton right now, who started off very slow to their season at 14-5 in conference

00:16play, 13-6 for both Marquette and UConn.

00:19So again, St. John's has created a ton of separation.

00:22The question, though, is can St. John's just win again?

00:28We talk about occasionally kind of not just the team's wins, but I'll look at the losses.

00:35And for St. John's, the losses this year are by 1, 3, 1, and 2.

00:42Pretty impressive.

00:43Now, the problem for St. John's, you know, let me just get out in front of this, okay?

00:49Nobody's going to laugh at me, but this has been...

00:52St. John's has no chance to be a one-seed, all right?

00:55I know they're 6-8 people.

00:57I get it.

00:58It's not going to happen.

00:59Their metrics are not even close, and it is because St. John's has not played anywhere

01:04near the level of competition necessary in order to crack the one line.

01:09The only noteworthy team they played out of conference was Baylor.

01:14If you want to argue Georgia, you can.

01:16They lost that game.

01:18And then the Big East is having a very down season.

01:22It's just what it is.

01:24They've lost to Creighton.

01:25They have beaten Marquette and UConn twice.

01:28The results are great, but they are not world-beater results.

01:33The only other team that ranks inside the top 35 in Ken Palm from the Big East is Marquette.

01:41So St. John's can win this game today by 30 and get on a one line.

01:47And now that we handled that, do you think they win this game by 30 today, Joe?

01:51No, I don't.

01:52I actually lean to Marquette.

01:54They're open to two and a half.

01:56It's up to four and a half right now.

01:59Marquette has won four of the last six.

02:01You look at St. John's, they've won five straight by an average margin of victory of 12 points

02:06per game.

02:07You look at R.J. Lewis, dominant performance back to back, 20 point performances.

02:12He's averaged 18.8 points per game over the last five games of the regular season, shooting

02:17over 50% from the field.

02:20This might be a first half game for St. John's.

02:23In the second half, I do expect Marquette to pull away.

02:26I like the over.

02:27This is one of my better plays for the day.

02:29I think they sailed through the total.

02:31This total opened up at 141 and a half.

02:33We're seeing movement to the over 144 and a half.

02:37Marquette over the last 10 games of the regular season has played a slower, more methodical

02:42tempo type of games.

02:44They've only averaged 138.9 points per game.

02:47We're seeing six points of premium.

02:50I think it's because it's the last regular season game.

02:53It's senior day.

02:55That carries in, I believe, as well.

02:58But I just think they need a better performance.

02:59I think they shoot, and knowing that they have a top 10 team coming into their building,

03:04I think we get points aplenty.

03:05I think St. John's scores, too.

03:07This game could get into the high 150s.

03:09Yeah, look, I know that this is a game that you have really circled up here.

03:12I am someone who thinks Marquette gets the job done.

03:16If you look for St. John's, and again, this is not to say that the results are good, but

03:20so far, on the road, there's only six teams in the whole Big East, okay, that are inside

03:27the top 70 on Kenpom.

03:30Only six.

03:31All right?

03:32They are two and two on the road against those teams.

03:35That's not bad.

03:36That's not bad.

03:37But they're not world beaters, right, when it comes to this spot here.

03:41So I would lean towards Marquette in this spot.

03:45It has been a climbing number throughout the day.

03:47Yeah, I was going to try and poke the bear with you.

03:49I said, let me look at some out-of-conference, get Bryant, Delaware.

03:54I don't even have a leg to stand on.

03:57They did beat UConn twice, and UConn's playing a lot better now at the end of the year than

04:03they were at the start with Hurley and the crew.

04:05But you're right, the out-of-conference, the Baylor one-point loss.

04:09I will say this, though, have Rick Pitino do what he's done.

04:13And I know you're a little, you know, maybe on the fence because of the Iona days.

04:17No, we just got to not try and rewrite history about the Iona program, that's all.

04:22Because of how he turned it around?

04:24Well, yeah.

04:25I mean, it's just ridiculous.

04:26I've never seen anything like it.

04:27I knew that.

04:28How he turned it.

04:29But here, OK, let me just put this into perspective.

04:30But it's great for St. John's in the city.

04:31Yes, it is.

04:32They didn't have that.

04:33100%.

04:34I thought Blavin was going to be that guy, and unfortunately it didn't work out for St.

04:37John's with him.

04:38The fact that Pitino, hometown guys, come in, there's, you know, the enthusiasm.

04:44People care about St. John's basketball.

04:46It's great.

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