Ranked St. John's tries to avoid letdown

High national rankings used to be the norm for St. John's basketball, but it's new territory for the nine seniors who finally experienced the sensation of seeing the Red Storm gain the No. 23 spot in The Associated Press writers' poll and the No. 25 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll after Saturday's upset of No. 4 Pitt.

After three long seasons of struggle and disappointment, St. John's (17-9 overall) suddenly has a 9-5 Big East record and is well-positioned to compete for a top-four standing that would result in a double-bye for the conference tournament next month. As part of the package, they've also become the objects of campus adulation, and they're anticipating a Carnesecca Arena sellout for Wednesday night's game against DePaul (7-19, 1-13).

Trying to put into words the transformation from also-ran to contender, forward Justin Burrell said, "In prior years, when you're losing, everything is dark. It's terrible to lose. I mean, I don't want to speak to my mother. Everything she says to me sounds bad. Classwork is so much harder.

"Now, my mom's nice. She put a couple extra dollars in my account. Teachers are being extra nice. Everybody's smiling a little harder. The campus life is a little bit funner. Everything is great."

Yes, life among college basketball's elite is much different now that St. John's is back in the rankings for the first time since Nov. 28, 2000, when it was No. 24 in the AP poll. But the players understand the ranking puts a bull's-eye on their chests. It would be easy to let down against DePaul, yet the Blue Demons showed how dangerous they can be by taking Villanova (No. 15 AP/No. 14 ESPN/USA Today) into overtime on Saturday before losing, 77-75.

"I don't think we're too high right now," guard Paris Horne said. "We feel like we still didn't accomplish what we want to accomplish. We're still hungry. We're going to keep going and finish these games strong."

Although the Red Storm has defeated five ranked opponents at Madison Square Garden, compiling a 7-1 record, they're only 3-2 at Carnesecca, including bad losses to St. Bonaventure and Cincinnati.

"We have to channel our focus and our energy here at Carnesecca the same way we do at the Garden so we can have as much success here as we do at the Garden," forward Sean Evans said. But Evans is looking forward to a raucous crowd, adding, "I think we're going to have 5,602 in there, and I think it's going to be a lot of electricity to feed off and a lot of good stuff for our school and our program."

The Red Storm has won six of its past seven games. After the one loss in that stretch Feb. 5 at UCLA, coach Steve Lavin reminded his team that a good two-week stretch in the Big East could have a dramatic impact on the season.

St. John's has done just that, virtually assuring itself an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2002. Now, the challenge is to build on the momentum and gain the highest possible tournament seed.

"Gaining momentum can be elusive, just like confidence," Lavin said. "And when you have momentum and confidence, you have to protect it. That means everyone in our program has to be mindful of the responsibility to stay on point and do the things it takes to duplicate the success we've had.

"The higher you climb, the thinner the air becomes. You get in that last stretch of climbing a mountain, and you have to be mindful of where you are in the journey. That comes back to our preparation and respecting opponents."