March Madness: All eyes will be on East Regional featuring St. John's vs. Duke
St. John's guard Dylan Darling celebrates after St. John's defeated Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday in San Diego. Credit: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Dylan Darling’s game-winning driving layup against Kansas as time expired in Sunday's game vaulted St. John’s into the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 and will live on forever for those who follow the Red Storm.
While the euphoria may linger a bit longer, the Red Storm have to get back to work because they are about to find themselves in the cauldron that is the East Regional semifinals.
As with any NCAA Tournament, there are plenty of great storylines going into the second weekend. No. 11 Texas slipped into the field and won three games in five days to reach the West Regional semifinals. In the South, there is the “Cornmageddon” match between fourth-seeded Nebraska, a Sweet 16 newcomer, and ninth-seeded Iowa, which just took out defending national champion and No. 1 seed Florida. In the Midwest, No. 2 Iowa State just shellacked No. 7 Kentucky despite the absence of injured star Joshua Jefferson.
But the nation is going to have a hard time taking its eyes off the East. In the regional semifinals, No. 5 St. John’s (30-6) will face No. 1 overall seed Duke (34-2) at Capital One Arena at 7:10 p.m. Friday, followed by No. 2 Connecticut (31-5) meeting No. 3 Michigan State (27-7).
UConn and coach Dan Hurley have won two of the past three national championships. Red Storm coach Rick Pitino and Spartans coach Tom Izzo are Hall of Famers. Duke is the one program that can sell out any arena in any part of the country, and the Blue Devils and Huskies rank among the greatest programs in NCAA history with six national championships apiece.
“The East is loaded, certainly,” Pitino said after reviewing the bracket on Selection Sunday. “In the [tournament], the most important thing is not who you’re playing, but make sure you’re playing good basketball.”
And it’s hard to say St. John’s isn’t playing good basketball. In the five games it has won since the regular season ended, three Big East Tournament games (including UConn in the final) plus the NCAA games against No. 12 Northern Iowa and No. 4 Kansas, the Red Storm have trailed for a grand total of 38 seconds, when the Jayhawks held a 6-3 lead in the early going Sunday.
The East also has the best “what if” left in the draw: a potential regional final between Big East rivals St. John’s and UConn, who would be meeting for the fourth time this season with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
After Hurley’s Huskies dispatched No. 7 UCLA on Sunday, he was asked about the upcoming East semifinals and replied, “It speaks to the quality of what us and St. John’s are this year . . . I just think us and St. John’s [are] two of the best teams in the country. Obviously, we both hoped for a fourth meeting in D.C.
“It feels like the combination of St. John’s being under-seeded as well as putting us both in the same region. I don’t want to get myself in trouble with the selection committee or the NCAA, but . . . it will be a live building.
“I think we’ve got to support each other. It’s pretty brutal on Twitter and socials between our fan bases, but I think we have to try to come together Friday night against our opponent so we can have a bloodbath on Sunday.”
The East Regional also holds some mystery and intrigue about whom the teams will be able to put on the floor. Duke and UConn had key players miss time in the first two rounds with injuries.
Patrick Ngongba II, Duke’s 6-11 center, injured a foot in the March 2 game against North Carolina State and was held out of the ACC Tournament. He missed the NCAA first-round game against Siena but played 13 effective minutes Saturday against TCU. Duke guard Caleb Foster had surgery for a broken foot less than three weeks ago, and coach Jon Scheyer has been noncommittal about his status for this weekend.
UConn is dealing with injuries to starting point guard Silas Demary Jr. (ankle) and forward Jaylin Stewart (knee). Both missed the first two March Madness games.
“Playing in the Sweet 16, being in Washington, is going to be real exciting,” St. John’s center Zuby Ejiofor said after the win over Kansas.
“We know things only get tougher from here and we’re going to prepare like we always do [for Duke]. The place is going to be alive with all the fans from the [competing] schools and it’s great that Johnnies Nation will have easier access.
“We heard the fans back home while we were out there and we love playing in front of them. We love playing in front of them, so we’re excited to go back to the East Coast.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
