You could hear a pin drop if you listened closely on your TV screen. That’s how sterile and dead it was at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. It was like watching a New Jersey Nets game at the old IZOD Center.
St. John’s head coach, Rick Pitino, touted his team’s home games at Madison Square Garden as a home-court advantage that would help his team. But watching St. John’s 70-50 victory over Villanova, it’s clear no one’s likely to confuse MSG with Cameron Indoor Stadium – let alone Prudential Center or Jersey Mike’s Arena – when it comes to college basketball.
For most of the night, the fans seemed disinterested. Some even hesitated to cheer for the home team until they made this game a blowout at 66-46. Fox Sports 1’s Jason Benetti noted all this on the telecast. Benetti may not know this, so I’ll tell him a secret: no one in New York cares about St. John’s. The program’s inspired nothing but apathy towards the program for two forgettable decades. Just because Pitino got here doesn’t mean fans would gravitate toward his program like glue. He’s learning a hard lesson – this isn’t Lexington, where fans loved his Kentucky Wildcats unconditionally when he was their coach.
It’ll take years — maybe even a decade — for fans to finally become invested in St. John’s basketball. This demands sustained success or persistent progress in the NCAA Tournament and taking Big East titles. It necessitates signing the best players in the nation. This is where Pitino will be judged when discussing his tenure with the Johnnies.
Until then, fans will not be excited about the Johnnies’ journey. It’s safe to say nobody knows how they’re doing in the first place. If the fans had known, the Wednesday night atmosphere would’ve been much better. The Red Storm haven’t exactly helped themselves by entering their game against Villanova on a three-game losing streak. The fans are still on a wait-and-see basis.
The fans need to look at the big picture here. The Johnnies will likely make the NCAA Tournament in Pitino’s first season. This is a team that’s doing well in a season of transition. They have gotten production from Joel Soriano, who scored 21 points against Villanova, and transfers Daniss Jenkins, RJ Luis Jr., and Chris Ludlum. They are winning through their defense. They’re building a foundation for what could be more to come under Pitino.
This is why fans should embrace the team instead of expecting failure or having a wait-and-see approach. It’s more fun to watch a college basketball team learning how to win than a college basketball team that already knows how to win. It’s always fun to see players grow, which is college basketball’s beauty. If we’re being honest, St. John’s is more fun to watch than the Garden’s NBA team, the Knicks. Give me team basketball over ISO basketball any day of the week.
Pitino hoped Madison Square Garden would be a hostile environment for any challenger coming to take on his team. He clearly overlooked what was happening here. The fanbase has been so beaten up that most have forgotten all about them. While he hasn’t exactly been down about the attendance, he still has every right to be disappointed, considering his presence could have attracted more fans to the Garden. It shouldn’t be so quiet … at least, not with Villanova in town.
I suppose it’s pleasant taking in a game in the Garden surrounded by peace and quiet. But come on! The home-court advantage is considered boisterous enough to benefit the home team. That hasn’t been the case. It will probably pick up as the season progresses. The Big East Tournament should be pro-St. John’s. Then again, Connecticut could have the home-court advantage since Huskies fans travel from the Nutmeg State to New York through Metro-North.
At its heart, college basketball is about the fans. The players feed off their energy and their pride. This is where St. John’s needs to rebuild their fanbase seriously. Watching Creighton play Seton Hall in a game that went into triple overtime at Prudential Center on Saturday — and hearing fans harping at the referees — was beautiful. There was nothing better last week than seeing Seton Hall fans heckling St. John’s.
There’s no excuse for the Garden to feel like a public library when the Johnnies play. It’s not what Pitino signed up for when he took the job. Watching him coach St. John’s should be a privilege. It’s rare for a coach of his ilk to come to Utopia Parkway and work for the university, so it’s disappointing for the atmosphere to be so lifeless against Villanova.
The Hall of Fame coach has invigorated the program so quickly. Sure, the Johnnies are still not what they used to be in their salad days under Lou Carnesecca. That’s okay. What we’re seeing now is much better than what it used to be around the program.
St. John’s plays their next home game against defending national champion Connecticut next Saturday. It’s a safe bet the Garden will be loud for this game. We expect Huskies fans to be the ones cheering.
Perhaps St. John’s fans can finally awaken from their slumber and demonstrate that they indeed exist and appreciate a hard-working program from their team.
