PROVIDENCE, R.I. — There are no asterisks in March. There are no apologies. The only thing that matters is getting the name of your school on the next line in the next level of the bracket. You do that, you don’t have to explain. You don’t have to justify. Just get to the next line.
St. John’s made it to the next line late Thursday night inside Amica Mutual Pavilion. They dawdled plenty early, a mixture of maybe a little nerves, maybe a little stage fright. They recovered. They led by five at the half. By the time the first TV timeout arrived, it was 17. It ended 83-53. It wasn’t always lovely basketball. The result was. On to the next line.
It happens that way sometimes with St. John’s. We’ve seen it plenty. They’re like a seasoned jazz band that takes its time warming up, but when they’re ready to riff … well, the Omaha Mavericks saw early in the second half what happened when they’re ready to riff. Suddenly, lanes that had seemed so available are clogged. Suddenly, there is nowhere to pass the ball.
Suddenly, RJ Luis Jr. (22 points) is starting to find the range, and Zuby Ejiofor is starting to percolate underneath. Suddenly, Kadary Richmond (10 points, eight rebounds, six assists), the drummer of this elite jazz band, is finding his rhythm and starting to cook, too.
