The St. John's University men's basketball team (16-15, 8-10 BIG EAST) has accepted a berth into the 76th Postseason National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and will travel to play Saint Joseph's (18-13, 9-7 A-10) of the Atlantic 10 Conference on Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
"We are grateful to have the opportunity to extend our season by participating in the NIT. We will gain valuable experience from this postseason tournament," said head coach Steve Lavin. "Making the NIT is another step forward for our program. Last year we finished 13-19 with six BIG EAST wins. This season we finished 16-15 with eight BIG EAST conference victories. Our focus now is preparing for a tough road game against St. Joseph's."
With the selection, St. John's has now received a postseason berth in two of the first three years of The Lavin Era (2011 NCAA Second Round, 2013 NIT). The last time the Red Storm program pieced together two postseason NCAA or NIT appearances in a three year span was when St. John's fell in the 2002 NCAA First Round and captured the 2003 NIT title.
The Red Storm will appear in the NIT for a record 28th time and for the first time since a first round appearance in 2010. St. John's holds NIT records with 28 appearances (29 ***), 40 victories (45 ***), 15 semifinal appearances (16 ***) and five championships (6 ***). The 2003 appearance, championship and victories were all vacated by the NCAA in 2006.
Under Hall of Fame coach Joe Lapchick, the Redmen captured four NIT titles in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Captain Andrew "Fuzzy" Levane and Harry Boykoff keyed STJ to its first title in 1943, followed by a back-to-back championship run in 1944 that starred Haggerty winner (NYC MVP) Dick McGuire, captain Hy Gotkin and NIT MVP Bill Kotsores. Tournament MVP Tony Jackson and captain Alan Seiden led the Redmen to the crown in 1959, and MVP Ken McIntyre and co-captain Jerry Houston sent Lapchick off in style in 1965. MVP Jayson Williams keyed St. John's to the only NIT title under Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca in 1989, while Marcus Hatten led the postseason run in 2003.
Third-year head coach Lavin and the Red Storm - one of the youngest, most-athletic and talented teams in the country made up of four scholarship freshmen, four sophomores and one JUCO transfer, and comprised of the 2011 No. 3 national recruiting class and the No. 8 2012 recruiting class - posted a 16-15 record in 2012-13 while playing to a No. 31 strength of schedule.
After being picked dead last by several preseason publications, St. John's played as the No. 10 seed in the BIG EAST Conference Tournament. The BIG EAST, with the nation's third-highest conference RPI, placed eight teams in the NCAA Tournament and two squads in the NIT.
St. John's key victories in 2012-13 include a 53-52 win at then-No. 14/15 Cincinnati (Jan. 5), a 67-63 win over then-No. 20/20 Notre Dame (Jan. 15) at The Garden and a 71-65 win over Connecticut (Feb. 6) at The World's Most Famous Arena. The Irish finished fifth in the BIG EAST standings and the Bearcats finished ninth. UConn is not eligible for the 2013 Postseason but finished seventh in the BIG EAST and completed the regular season with a RPI of 46.
St. John's compiled a 12-5 record at home in 2012-13, and posted four road victories. With an 8-10 BIG EAST record, the Red Storm posted its second-most league victories since 2001-02. The Red Storm had gone 12-6 in 2010-11, Lavin's first season in Queens. Two of the Red Storm's BIG EAST losses were in overtime, and two more were by three points or less.
*** Figure reduced due to St. John's 2003 NIT participation being vacated by the NCAA in 2006.