For St. John's, long-awaited excitement for Selection Sunday
St. John's players huddle before the start of the second half of a Big East men’s basketball semifinal against UConn at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Selection Sunday is typically associated with great images — teams gathered together and watching for their school’s name to be revealed on the NCAA Tournament bracket, followed by huge celebrations when it finally is.
It hasn’t been like that for St. John’s grad transfers Chris Ledlum and Jordan Dingle. Since they’ve been playing college basketball, neither has looked forward to watching the annual selection show. Not until this year, anyway.
Ledlum came to the Red Storm for this season from Harvard and said he never even watched the big reveal because, as he put it, “I’m a sore loser.” Dingle, who came from Penn, said watching it conjured disappointment that his season was over. Both have yet to play on the sport’s biggest stage.
“This year is different, so I’m really looking forward to it this time,” Dingle said. “Selection Sunday really hasn’t meant anything to me because I, unfortunately, was never a part of it, never had the ability to be. And I’m really grateful to God that I’m here with this group of guys and I’m going to get that chance.”
“It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting,” Ledlum said. “I am looking forward to it.”
Ledlum and Dingle came to St. John’s for coach Rick Pitino’s inaugural season as coach because they saw a chance to experience something they always wanted. When St. John’s defeated Seton Hall by 19 points in Thursday’s Big East Tournament quarterfinals at the Garden, it got the victory that ought to earn an at-large bid.
There still are games to be played and crazy things that can happen. But there is confidence and hope among the Red Storm players, and those things are good.
They believe they played a schedule that was challenging enough. They believe they measure up well in metrics. And anyone who saw them standing toe-to-toe in the ring that is the Garden court with No. 2-ranked Connecticut before suffering a 95-90 semifinal loss on Friday night knows they look the part of an NCAA Tournament team.
Even Pitino said afterward, “Obviously, if we get the right matchup, we could cause some serious damage.”
Selection Sunday has a very different feel for the St. John’s fans as well. They haven’t had one like this — with more anticipation than anxiety or lack of interest — since 2015, when a Red Storm team featuring D’Angelo Harrison, Sir’Dominic Pointer and Rysheed Jordan won 21 games and ended up with a No. 9 seeding. The 2019 experience was filled with anxiety, when St. John’s was the last at-large team to make the field and revealed in the final minutes of the selection show.
For those who follow the Red Storm, Sunday will be more like 85% “when” and just 15% “if.” Maybe even less than that. It certainly is less than that for the players.
Asked if he is looking forward to Selection Sunday, Daniss Jenkins — who was in the NCAAs with Pitino and Iona a year ago — replied, “We are. We think we had a great schedule. We think we’re in. We should be in.”
“We know we’re going to be in,” Ledlum said. “We know our strength of schedule. We’re just excited to see what seed we get.”
St. John’s has six players in their final year of college eligibility. Only Jenkins and Nahiem Alleyne — who was with UConn when it won the 2023 national championship — have been in an NCAA Tournament. For Ledlum, Dingle, Soriano and Sean Conway, that was the dream when they accepted Pitino’s invitations.
Anyone who has followed Pitino through an incredibly successful college coaching career knew that the St. John’s program had a bright future. The question was whether that future could be realized this season.
For those who play on the Red Storm and those who follow them, it now looks as if the answer is “yes.”
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.
