• Boston University was not rebounding well in the early portion of their seven-game winning streak. But in the last two games, the Terriers have dominated the glass, and keeping that up will only help. Granted, it came against two of the worst teams in the conference, but one of them (UMBC) is normally a decent team on the glass. Part of that has come from an emphasis on rebounding of late, but not just at the defensive end.“The last two games, we’ve done a much better job on the glass,” said head coach Joe Jones. “We’re just trying to make a concerted effort to be a better offensive rebounding team as well.”
• One of the keys to Marquette‘s play has been the play of transfer Jamil Wilson. The Oregon transfer isn’t putting up big numbers, but he had 16 points on Saturday night at Providence to go with three blocked shots. Three nights later, he blocked three more shots to help the Golden Eagles shut down USF, and he is filling the stat sheet more and more.”I think he’s become incredibly, incredibly important to what we’re doing,” said head coach Buzz Williams. “I think with each passing day, regardless of game day or practice day, I think his confidence continues to grow. I think he helps us hide some of our deficiencies because of his intelligence, particularly on the defensive end.”
• Northeastern somehow pulled out a win on Wednesday night over Delaware that may make a difference for them. The Huskies had lost two straight after a good start, but came home for a win that may get them going again. Joel Smith hit his second game-winning basket in less than a month, having made a buzzer-beater at Vermont on December 30, and looks to be playing much better although he struggled in the two recent road losses. The big key, he said, is being engaged at both ends of the floor, and head coach Bill Coen noted that they have only lost once when Smith has six or more rebounds.”I’m trying to be more involved, especially rebounding and defense,” said Smith. “Once you do the little things, the game just flows and it comes to you.”
• St. John’s showed on Wednesday night that although they are young, they will be able to beat a top team or two before the season is out. They beat West Virginia convincingly, and all along they have looked like a scrappy team that will not go down easily.
• Staying in the Big East, Notre Dame‘s win at Seton Hall is another solid win for the Fighting Irish. If they keep this up, Mike Brey should be in the mix for Big East Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, Seton Hall has come back to earth a bit of late as they are now 4-4 in Big East play.
• St. Mary’s picked up a big road win on Thursday night as they went to Los Angeles and came away with a 71-64 win over Loyola Marymount. There are more road tests ahead for this team, but getting a win in LA is a good way to keep up the winning.
• Five teams are tied atop the Atlantic 10 with 4-2 records, but Xavier and Temple are not among them. Instead, it’s Dayton, La Salle, UMass, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure. Temple and Xavier are right behind them, but chances are few figured a five-way tie would not include those two.
• Iona heads to Fairfield on Friday night in a game that may have lost a bit of luster from before MAAC play began in earnest. The Stags are 5-3, and they could make things a little more interesting with a win as Iona is 7-2 and being talked about as a team that should be in one of the better BracketBusters matchups.

As of Jan. 9, the Orange look an awful lot like the best team in the country. But considering that it’s still early January, that’s not terribly surprising. The question is whether Syracuse will still look like the best team in college hoops in another two months as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Since the Orange won the championship in 2003, Syracuse has made a habit of starting hot, building a record at least nine games better than .500 each season. In half of those seasons, the Orange have had a record as gaudy as at least 15 games better than .500.

But each season, the team has fallen apart for one reason or another. In some cases, it’s a lack of leadership to handle adversity when the team inevitably drops a tough Big East game or two. In other cases, the downfall has been rifts in team chemistry, sometimes leading to suspensions or poor play. And injuries have factored into a few of the collapses.

In sum, Syracuse has not finished a season better than three games above .500 after the Orange’s struggles creep into the picture. Why would this team be any different?

To start, this team has fantastic depth. Ten players average at least 12 minutes per game. Seven players contribute at least seven ppg, but no one scores more than 14.1 ppg, and that’s senior swingman Kris Joseph. In addition, the Orange have superior height than nearly any other team in Division I, with nine players who stand 6’4” or taller.

Coach Jim Boeheim has helped this team navigate through the tumultuous Bernie Fine affair without any semblance of a disturbance on the court. Compared to the off court drama, Boeheim must be happy dealing with any complaints about playing time that come from his talented players — if there have been any at all. Only two players are averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but as far as we can tell, everyone has embraced his role on the team. And that is leading to win after win.

At some point, the Orange will likely drop a game or two in Big East play. Road games against Cincinnati, St. John’s, Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut are potential land mines. But unlike in recent years, this team seems built to overcome the struggles of one night. Boeheim has the Orange playing their best basketball in eight years, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. If Syracuse can maintain its 1.202 points per possession on offense and 0.883 points per possession on defense, both those numbers will be the best marks for offensive and defensive efficiency for the years that Pomeroy has data available (since 2003).

In a season filled with talented teams, Syracuse has earned its No. 1 ranking, and the Orange should remain near the top from wire to wire. And for Syracuse fans, a strong finish to bookend a strong start would be a refreshing change of pace.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman is in the thick of serious allegations after several people at the Bears’ game at South Carolina State said the coach punched Morgan State senior Larry Bastfield during the game, according to ESPN.com news services. The school has indefinitely suspended Bozeman while looking into the accusations. Bozeman and Bastfield say the news is much ado about nothing — with that nothing being an accidental bump during the game, as Bastfield described it.

Xavier coach Chris Mack made his point, then paid the price. Mack missed the past couple of days after tearing a tendon in his left knee while dunking to re-energize the struggling Musketeers, who are 2-5 in the past few weeks, writes USA Today’s Marlen Garcia.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek has accepted the departure of leading scorer Keala King, who left a few days after Sendek suspended him for unacceptable conduct, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. King’s departure is a massive loss for a pretty bad Sun Devils team. King averaged 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 3.3 apg.

St. John’s scored a talented point guard when former Texas A&M sophomore Jamal Branch decided to transfer to the Red Storm, writes the New York Daily News’ Roger Rubin. Branch averaged 4.2 ppg and 2.5 apg for the Aggies, and he chose St. John’s over several other suitors.

Michael Jordan’s son Jeff has decided to leave Central Florida, according to an Associated Press report. His brother, Marcus, remains with the Golden Knights, as Jeff cited personal reasons for his decision.

Semifinals:

Mississippi State 69, Texas A&M 60

Arizona 81, St. John’s 72

Consolation:   Texas A&M 58, St. John’s 57

Championship:  Mississippi State 67, Arizona 57

1. Renardo Sidney is an enigma. If he ever gets it going, look out. Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury praises his effort but the truth is, too many times Sidney appears disinterested or going through the motions. He scored three points on 0-of-8 shooting in the semis. The first two minutes of the final he hit his first two shots and seemed to be on the way. After that opening, he basically disappeared, finishing with eight points. The Bulldogs have a solid backcourt led by Dee Bost. Tournament MVP Arnett Moultrie is a versatile and dangerous talent with relentless energy. Mississippi State simply is an excellent club. But if Sidney gets it together, watch out.

2. The pieces are falling into place at Arizona. Sean Miller’s club wound up as runner-up, but the Wildcat mentor likes their progress. Both nights they had a turnover rate of under 20%, a very good mark. The Wildcats will shoot the three, as evidenced by the St. John’s game where 48% of their points were from long range. They have a few inside players in Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill. There is a really nice freshman talent in Nick Johnson. Miller however, would like the aforementioned pair of Perry and Solomon to continue to make plays and show upperclass leadership. Arizona is a club that will continue to improve and Miller is excited about their prospects. With good reason.

3. Texas A&M has a few good wide bodies, notably Ray Turner, who can finish inside. One of their priorities will be in limiting turnovers. They had a 24% TO rate in the semis and 26% against St. John’s. There are times in the half court sets when they over-dribble and the offense stagnates. They can get the job done in transition but need better execution in the half court, especially against teams skilled in stopping the break. In 6-9 sophomore Kourtney Robinson, they have a solid rebounder who grabbed double figures in boards both night. They are another team with work to do, but one that took a lot more than just a two-game split out of their trip to New york.

4. St. John’s will compete and is resilient. Both nights  they came back from second-half deficits. They are small with little depth, so inside play on the defensive end is a concern for coach Steve Lavin. Opponents had a very high offensive rebounding percentage of over 40% both nights. Dribble penetration is outstanding with their quickness in the backcourt. Nurideen Lindsey got to the basket and caused match up problems against their opposition in the two contests. As noted, that penetration gets them to the charity stripe on a regular basis.  In that regard Lavin admits they must take advantage of the situation, as they were only 22 of 38 from the line in that one-point setback against Texas A&M.

The tournament honor roll with the Manley efficiency averages. The “Manley formula” devised by Martin Manley adds positives as points, FGM, FTM, rebounds, steals , assists and blocks while subtracting negatives: missed shots and turnovers.

MVP: Arnett Moultrie, Miss. State, 20

ALL-Tournament: Kourtney Roberson, Texas A&M, 10

Murideen Lindsey, St. John’s, 10.5

Jesse Perry, Arizona, 14.5

Dee Bost, Miss. State, 12.5

Now that we are a week into the 2010-11 college basketball season, the Big East started the day as one of four conferences that could say every one of their teams made it through the opening weekend without suffering a loss; the ACC, Big 12 and Mountain West are the others.

Although you would expect most of the Big East to make easy work of their early season cupcake opponents, the parity of college basketball that has become prevalent in recent years showed itself once again with some big-time programs needing some solid play to hold off so-called mid-majors.

St. John’s kicked off the BE season with a pair of wins against William & Mary and Lehigh last Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Both games weren’t all that convincing for St. John’s, however, the Johnnies leaned hard on sophomore Nurideen Lindsey and junior college transfer God’s Gift Achiuwa, and both answered with big games.

Let’s take a look at some of the other close calls.

Friday, Nov. 11:

West Virginia 78, Oral Roberts 71: The Mountaineers opened their season facing a stout Oral Roberts squad that was the preseason pick to win Summit League. Kevin Jones led four West Virginia players in double-digits with 20 points. Truck Bryant added 17 points, including the Mountaineers last eight.

Rutgers 62, Dartmouth 56: Another young team, the Scarlet Nights jumped out to an early lead, only to be matched by Dartmouth. Rutgers got their lead up to eight in the second halfbut couldn’t close the door completely, mostly due to their lack of ball security. The Scarlet Knights turned the ball over 16 times. Dane Miller led the way for Rutgers with 12 points.

No. 4 Connecticut 70, Columbia 57

No. 8 Louisville 83, Tennessee-Martin 48

No. 11 Pittsburgh 89, Albany 56

No. 21 Marquette 91, Mount St. Mary’s 37

Villanova 106, Monmouth 70

DePaul 91, Texas-Pan American 72

Saturday, Nov. 12

South Florida 61, Vermont 59: A close game throughout, South Florida’s lead was cut to a point with 10.5 seconds remaining. Shaun Noriega made the second of two free throws, giving the Bulls a two-point edge. Vermont’s Four McGlynn missed a game-tying layup with one second remaining and Matt Glass’ putback came after the buzzer, allowing South Florida to escape. SF’s Noriega led the Bulls with 17 points, and both Augustus Gilchrist and Victor Rudd Jr. had 12 points.

Seton Hall 75, St. Francis (NY) 71 OT: The Hall’s senior guard Jordan Theodore scored a career-high 25 points, including a game-tying bucket with a second remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. Herb Pope was a force down low for the Pirates recording his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Trailing most of the game, Seton Hall scored the last six points of regulation and took over in the extra period to get their first win of the season.

No. Syracuse 78, Fordham 53

Georgetown 83, Savannah State 54

Notre Dame 80, Mississippi Valley State 67

Providence 72, Fairleigh Dickinson 61

Sunday, Nov. 14

No. 8 Louisville 68, Lamar 48: The Cards didn’t have much trouble with Lamar but took a major hit as Mike Marra went down with a torn ACL. He’ll miss the rest of the season.  The injuries woes continue for Louisville who has already dealt with Peyton Silva, Stephan Van Treese, Rakeem Buckles and Wayne Blackshear all missing time due to injury.

No. 11 Pittsburgh 86, Rider 78: The high expectations of Pitt this year could have taken a hit as they played a sloppy opener against Rider that required a 16-5 to end the game to give the Panthers their second victory of the year. Ashton Gibbs scored 24 points and Nasir Robinson added 22

No. 22 Cincinnati 65, Alabama State 40

St. John’s 82, UMBC 59

Monday, Nov. 15

Providence 80, Fairfield 72: In a game that pitted new Providence coach Ed Cooley against his former team, the Friars got a big game from Vincent Council, who had 26 points and seven assists, and Bryce Cotton, who scored 24 points. Although the win is a good building block for Providence, it probably put a dent in Fairfield’s NCAA Tournament hopes. Already with the tournament, you ask? Yup.

Notre Dame 59, Detroit 53: Without their leader and top returning scorer, Tim Abromaitis, the Fighting Irish found themselves in a dogfight with Detroit. The Titans’ Ray McCallum lit up the Irish for 20 points. With 14 minutes left, McCallum scored giving Detroit a 41-33 lead. ND answered with a 14-0 run and kept Detroit at bay the rest of the way.

No. 4 Connecticut 78, Wagner 66

No. 5 Syracuse 92, Manhattan 56

No. 21 Marquette 99,  Norfolk State 68

Georgetown 86, UNC Greensboro 45

South Florida 81, Marist 67

DePaul 80, Mississippi Valley State 70

Game to look forward to:

St. John’s vs. (16) Arizona, 11/17, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2: The Johnnies will have their tallest task of the season Thursday when Arizona comes into Madison Square Garden for the 2K Sports Classic. Sean Miller’s Wildcats have been far from convincing in their first three games, and this is the type of game that Lavin can get his guys up for, especially playing in the Garden where the Red Storm thrived last season.

Some quick hitters as we reach the night college basketball opens for all teams:

• St. John’s showed that they are a scrappy bunch and will try to win games by speeding teams up and winning the hustle battle.  In each of their first two games, they turned the game around by speeding up the opponent and turning loose balls and second chances into baskets.  They are a very young group, but they’re athletic and acquitted themselves very well in starting out 2-0 this week.

• George Mason now knows the outcome with Andre Cornelius.  The senior point guard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor credit card fraud and is suspended for the first ten games of the season.  While not a small loss, and one that will occur during some tough non-conference games that include the NIT Season Tip-Off, they will get him back before CAA play and have their senior core all together by then.  Cornelius, Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison have been through a lot of wins over the past three years, and in a CAA with a lot of teams lacking in experience, that could be huge.

• The Carrier Classic matchup of Michigan State and North Carolina is for obvious reasons getting a lot of headlines, and Duke’s opener against Belmont is also getting a lot of attention as Mike Krzyzewski tries to move closer to the all-time Division I wins record and Belmont will be a team to watch all season long.  But there are plenty of intriguing matchups on opening night: a promising young Oregon team playing at Vanderbilt, improving Loyola Marymount at UCLA, Northeast favorite Long Island at Hofstra and Patriot League favorite Bucknell at Minnesota and BYU at Utah State.  Those are games I’ll have an eye on.

• A commitment that flew under the radar a bit recently was Temple landing Daniel Dingle.  The highly-skilled forward is a great pickup for the Owls, as Dingle could play in the Big East or ACC but will instead help Fran Dunphy compete for more Atlantic 10 titles.

Last Year:

21-12 overall, 12-6 Big East (T-3rd)

Coach:

Steve Lavin (2nd season, 21-12)

Projected starting five:

G: Nurideen Lindsey, So.
G: D’Angelo Harrison, Fr.
F: Sir’Dominic Pointer, Fr.
F: Moe Harkless, Fr.
C: God’s Gift Achiuwa, Jr.

Important departures:

Dwight Hardy 18.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg
Justin Brownlee 12.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.9 apg
DJ Kennedy 10.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 2.0 apg

Inside the numbers:

4 percent scoring returning
2 percent rebounding returning

Additions:

G: D’Angelo Harrison, 6’3”, 186 – Rivals #40
F: Moe Harkless, 6’6”, 180 – Rivals #41
F: Sir’Dominic Pointer, 6’5” 200 – Rivals #44

Schedule:

Toughest nonconference game(s): 11/17 vs. (16) Arizona, 12/1 at (2) Kentucky
Toughest in-conference stretch: 12/31 – 1/11 at (4) Connecticut, vs. (8) Louisville, at (22) Cincinnati, at (21) Marquette

Prediction:

14th in BE; 15+ wins; NIT Bubble

What to expect:

Steve Lavin came into Queens and turned a lot of heads with an impressive first year at St. John’s. The Red Storm were a little slow out of the gate, but after dismantling Duke at Madison Square Garden, the Johnnies took off, winning nine of their next 11 games.

This year doesn’t promise to be as exciting for St. John’s as they practically lose their entire team to graduation. Lavin did unbelievably in recruiting, bringing in ESPNU’s third-ranked class, but with no senior leadership, it looks to be a rebuilding year for St. John’s.

Another blow came when Lavin was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but the coach has had surgery and hopes to be back for the start of the season. Regardless, not much can be expected from a team starting three freshman and two Juco transfers.

Next: Syracuse Orange

Back to Big East preview

St. John’s overcame a rough first half in which the Red Storm fell behind William & Mary by seven points. After the break, St. John’s amped up the pressure, and the Tribe’s freshman point guard, Marcus Thornton, couldn’t handle it. Thornton finished with seven of William & Mary’s 21 turnovers.

Sophomore Juco transfer Nurideen Lindsey was a frequent tormentor of Thornton. One of the Red Storm’s much-heralded newcomers, Lindsey did a little bit of everything, shooting 8-of-12 from the field en route to 19 points. And he added four assists and five steals.

Running Lindsey’s’ stats through the Total Impact Quotient player rating system, the Red Storm have plenty of reason to be excited, even after only one game. The explosive sophomore guard put up a TIQ of 34.4 for the game. That’s on par with the likes of Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert last season.

Yes, it’s only one game against an opponent that doesn’t figure to be on par with most Big East opponents. But on a team filled with youngsters, St. John’s needs a reliable stat stuffer. The one troublesome stat for Lindsey in the Red Storm’s 74-59 victory was his four fouls. Given Lindsey’s ability to contribute at both ends of the court, the Red Storm need Lindsey to play smart in addition to aggressive. The team doesn’t have the depth to replace his production with several freshmen academically ineligible until late December.

We have three games on tap tonight, two of which you can find on ESPNU if you’d like a change of pace from the Eagles and Bears on Monday Night Football. Here’s who’s in action tonight.

• William & Mary at St. John’s, 7 pm ET
• Eastern Kentucky at Mississippi State, 8 pm ET
• Valparaiso at Arizona, 9 pm ET

The finals of the tournament will feature those three major conference teams plus Texas A&M in New York’s Madison Square Garden Nov. 17-18. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see at least one of those teams drop a game in the early rounds before reaching the Big Apple. In fact, the Big Apple’s own St. John’s could be in danger tonight, as the Red Storm start 2011-12 with nearly a complete roster makeover while the Tribe return almost all of last season’s team.

We’ve got an upset watch on opening night!

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

If it’s April, three of the top stories in basketball relate to which coaches are changing jobs, which players are going pro, and which players are transferring. Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman has a list for the latter category. In case you’ve missed some of the player movement of the past few weeks, Goodman lists all the players who have announced that they will play elsewhere.

At ESPN.com, you can track all the coaching movement in Division I in a chart that lists schools, former coach and new coach. As of today, 13 teams are still in the hunt for a new coach.

And if you want to find out whether your team’s best underclassmen will be playing in the NBA or NCAA next season, check out CBS Sports.com’s set of charts.

The most recent team to fill its open coaching position is UNLV, according to the Associated Press. BYU associate coach Dave Rice is moving on from the Mormons’ home base of Utah to Sin City. Rice’s now former boss, BYU coach Dave Rose, said Rice is an excellent teacher and has a history of success, which he’ll be taking to the desert and a Rebels team that has emerged as a perennial Mountain West contender.

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin will begin treatment for prostate cancer after announcing that he was diagnosed with the disease in fall 2010, according to SI.com’s “Fan Nation” blog.

BYU is extending coach Dave Rose’s contract, a rare reward for excellence at the university, according to Fan Nation. Just don’t ask about the financial details.

We already have some drama heading into next season’s North Carolina State vs. Maryland rivalry in the ACC. Granted, in recent years, there’s not much of a rivalry to speak of between those teams. However, Wolfpack Athletic Director Debbie Yow, former boss of Maryland coach Gary Williams, accused Williams of trying to sabotage her search for a new coach. She eventually hired former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried to replace Sidney Lowe, drawing the ire of State fans who wanted Shaka Smart or another hot name. There’s plenty of bad blood between Yow and Williams, according to the “Lost Lettermen” blog.

UCLA finally knows where the Bruins will be playing home games next season while Pauley Pavilion gets a facelift. Eamonn Brennan, of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog, reports that the Los Angeles Sports Arena will host 14 Bruins home games, with the team playing four others at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Fresh off his third national championship, Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun said he will take some to decide whether he wants to retire, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. But don’t think that means he’s taking any time off from the recruiting trail.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

I watched every second of Connecticut’s championship game victory against Butler. And that might officially make me a basketball geek — as if there were any doubt about that.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Huskies’ 53-41 win wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever watched. But there’s been far too much talk about how terrible the game was, and some commentators have even hinted that the NCAA Tournament has a flawed format in which the best team doesn’t win the title.

To that, I say: horse manure.

The NCAA Tournament has one of the most difficult post-season formats of any sport at any level because a champion must win six — at least — games in a row against opponents that play a variety of styles. A championship run is a testament of a coach’s ability to strategize a game plan and adjust it during the heat of the action. It’s a testament of great players performing at a consistently high level for three weeks.

Even the most talented teams in the country will likely face at least one opponent that plays a style that makes the favorite somewhat uncomfortable. For underdogs, the ability to get a team outside its comfort zone, force mistakes and capitalize on opportunities forms the recipe for an upset. VCU took that recipe and repeated it from the First Four to the Final Four.

The Rams got past USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas with a pressure defense that preyed on inconsistent backcourt play. On offense, VCU rode hot three-point shooting to cover up for a size disadvantage in the post. If the Rams met the Jayhawks in an NBA-style seven-game series, there’s no way I could see VCU winning the series. I’d pick VCU to win one, maybe two games in seven against Kansas. But the more talented team — as NBA analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley frequently pointed out during their stint as NCAA Tournament analysts — would likely advance, barring injuries or a major internal meltdown.

And that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament wonderful. To be champion, you must come to play every game for three weeks. Anything short of your best effort could send you home. And even your effort might not be enough if you’re running the wrong game plan.

So don’t tell me Butler’s 18 percent shooting in the championship ruined the tournament or somehow devalues Connecticut’s achievement. In the game I watched, I saw an outstanding defensive effort in which the Huskies limited the Bulldogs to a tiny number of clean looks at the hoop. However, Butler also failed to make in-game adjustments. The team took 51.6 percent of its shots from three-point range, making only 9-of-33 attempts. After Chase Stigall hit a three to open the second half and give Butler a six-point lead, the team didn’t make another shot from the field for seven minutes and only one shot in 13 minutes. During that stretch, the Bulldogs missed 11 three-pointers.

Brad Stevens realized his teams was overmatched in the post, but the Bulldogs just weren’t getting it done from the perimeter. The team’s stubborn insistence on jacking up bombs — and bricks — led to the dismal shooting percentage and put Connecticut on track to the championship.

More simply put, the Huskies executed their game plan more efficiently and effectively than Butler could, and the Bulldogs couldn’t adjust to do anything about that. In a championship game performance, that’s all you can ask from the winning team, regardless of the score.

Early in the first half, Red Storm forward D.J. Kennedy went down. He had to be helped off the court, which isn’t a good sign. The injury was believed to be a season-ending knee injury at the time, and reports later in the day said the injury is a torn ACL in his right knee, which means he will miss the NCAA Tournament.

“This is a tough time to lose both a leader and vital member of our team,” said St. John’s head coach Lavin in a release by the school. “D.J. Kennedy has consistently influenced the game at both ends of the floor throughout our successful season. We will miss his leadership, versatility and experience. Our basketball family is determined to bring an inspired effort to pay tribute to D.J. Kennedy for his outstanding contributions to our program. Our players recognize we would not be participating in the NCAA Tournament without D.J.’s efforts.”

Kennedy has had a big hand in the gradual improvement of the team over his career. He’s done a lot of things for them since coming in and starting right away, playing as a wing who can pass. Kennedy will finish his career having started all but four of his games and three straight seasons with more assists than turnovers to go with solid scoring and rebounding numbers. He’s played some of both forward spots and done just about anything they’ve asked him to do.

Most of all, Kennedy has seen this program rise up. He was part of a big recruiting class that came to St. John’s with the hope of gradually rising the program back to the NCAA Tournament. He’s seen them have growing pains early. He’s seen them start well last year and get some buzz around the program, only to slow down and not finish well in Big East play. He’s seen them when they were thought to be an NIT team at best. He’s seen them become a team no one wants to play at Madison Square Garden. Now he’s seen them as a team ready to go back to the NCAA Tournament, the goal when he and the current crop of seniors was recruited by Norm Roberts and his staff.

In short, he’s seen quite a bit. That right there tells you they will be losing a lot with him out of the lineup.

For how much losing a key player this late can impact a team, St. John’s doesn’t need to look far. Georgetown’s struggles without Chris Wright are well-documented, something Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim mentioned. Boeheim also can relate, having lost Arinze Onuaku in the Big East Tournament last season, although Onuaku wasn’t as significant to the Orange as Kennedy is to St. John’s. Likewise, Kennedy isn’t quite as vital to St. John’s as Wright is to Georgetown, although that might be a closer comparison.

“You can’t absorb a loss like that, especially if you have three key guys,” said the Syracuse mentor. “You can maybe lose a guy if you have great depth and he’s not a key guy.”

The St. John’s players aren’t ducking what this means. They know they just lost an important piece of the puzzle, and it means everyone else has to do more.

“It’s going to affect us a little bit because he’s versatile,” said senior guard Dwight Hardy. “But now we have to pick up the slack, somebody else going to have to rebound a little more, somebody is going to have to score a little bit more, everybody on this team is going to have to add more value than what they’ve been adding.”

Most of all, one has to feel for Kennedy, who won’t get his one shot to play in the NCAA Tournament. This is what he came to St. John’s for, and now all he can do is watch.