NEW YORK – It’s been two decades since St. John’s made such a splash early in the season. Twenty years since optimism was so strong, it justified the Red Storm’s leasing of the building in the first part of the non-conference schedule. The last time SJU played at Madison Square Garden this early in the season was in 2003.
Rick Pitino’s hiring changes a lot.
However, it did not change the result on Monday. Michigan easily overcame Pitino’s first loss at St. John’s, winning 89-73 after a laugh-out-loud second half. It was UM’s 11th straight win at the Garden.
Before it ended with a whimper, the Johnnies’ garden was a bustle of activity that has rarely been the case in the last 15+ years. A devilish red glow lit up the arena before the game. On the video board, a pre-recorded Pitino hype clip included the statement: “St. John’s will be back, I guarantee it.”
“Run This Town” blared from the speakers as pyrotechnics brought thousands of SJU fans to their feet. This would be the first big moment for the Red Storm in their new era. It was time for St. John’s to announce its first major statement of the Pitino era.
Michigan wasn’t interested.
Maybe later this season, or in two or three years, we’ll see St. John’s win an NCAA tournament game or two and look back with a laugh on that dull debut at Madison Square Garden. It is undoubtedly a humble beginning.
“They played smart basketball. And we don’t,” Pitino said. “We played like a team at the beginning of November. And that was a difference in the game.”
Here are my three big/extended takeaways from Michigan’s Monday night abuse at MSG.
It seems like almost everyone was wrong about Michigan
Time for a mea culpa. I had Michigan ranked 62nd at the start of the season. No one was really at UM — the Wolverines were picked 11th in the Big Ten — yet few power conference teams have been more impressive through three games than this group.
We thank Michigan interim coach Phil Martelli for leading the ship. With Juwan Howard still not ready to return after recent heart surgery, Martelli (a man with nearly 450 wins, let me remind you) has comfortably got Michigan off to a 3-0 start with an average winning margin of 24.7 points in the NCAA 2023 tournament coaches team UNC Asheville, Youngstown State and St. John’s.
“I’m appropriately tired and it feels good,” Martelli told me after temporarily returning to his former role as program director.
The Wolverines may not be particularly talented, but they appear to be a strong unit so far. At 18-16 last season, Michigan was a disappointment (due in part to injuries). This team is an offensive machine right now and has dropped 89 or more points in all three games; on Monday, St. John’s averaged 1.24 points per possession.
“They’re going to have a great season,” Pitino said. “I don’t follow the Big Ten too much, but there aren’t many teams better than Michigan, I can assure you that. Because they score so well. They throw the ball back. They share the ball.”
It’s still unclear when Howard will return, but between Martelli running day-to-day operations, Howard Eisley playing offensive coordinator, and Saddi Washington running defense, this trio has plenty of basketball intelligence. That’s why I voted it one of the best coaching groups in college basketball this offseason.
When it came to the win and the environment, Martelli, a true Don of Philadelphia basketball, couldn’t help himself.
“They’re going to be mad, but (Madison Square Garden is): the second-best basketball arena in the country,” he told the media minutes after the win. “They know full well that the Palestra is the best basketball facility in America.”
There may not be a quick fix for this St. John’s D
When I met with Pitino at Big East Media Day in October, he was effusive on all but one issue. Pitino told me that his team’s defensive strength was nowhere near the level needed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. He said he was ready for the first few weeks of the season because he felt there was still a lot of work to be done. A main reason for this was that he arranged many mid-sized transfers from teams that were underperforming last season.
With almost five decades of professional basketball experience, the man knows what he’s talking about. The Red Storm were strong defensively for most of the night. That may even be putting it too nicely. In fact, I’ll let Pitino’s words tell the story – succinctly. In his first MSG postgame press conference in a long time, he was rational but blunt.
Three quotes:
- “Our depth upfront is terrible.”
- “Our offensive shocked me deeply. I was deeply shocked that we didn’t share the ball.”
- “I always tell them… the movie never lies. He never lies. You know, if you watch a great movie, the same things will happen in that movie. And they will see him tomorrow, they will be very embarrassed by their game.
The Johnnies were listless in the second half. Pitino acknowledged that his team couldn’t come close to matching the enthusiasm of the St. John’s fans (Monday night attendance: 14,188). His biggest surprise was how his team faltered on offense in the second half. The Red Storm seemed content to see Michigan run away with the game. It would be breathtaking to see this type of body language and collective performance from this team in the middle of conference play.
But at this point, Pitino said, “We better be careful now because this early timeline is difficult.”
A few minutes later, he was deadpan about the schedule: “And the Big East will be a lot easier.”
Few teams generated more excitement – or hype – in November than St. John’s. We can call it exactly what it was: a flop. Pitino has a project ahead of him, perhaps one of his more difficult assignments of the last 10 years (Louisville, Iona and the EuroLeague in this stretch). So in typical Pitino fashion, Monday night didn’t end with him leaving MSG to return home to his comfortable accommodations on the grounds of Winged Foot Golf Club. The man is a preparation freak. He made sure a meeting room at the nearby Renaissance Hotel was booked ahead of time in case the coaches needed him to review the video as quickly as possible after a loss. Monday night brought an alarming defeat, which meant a study session was in order. Within 90 minutes of the end of the game, the entire St. John’s staff was back at the team hotel poring over the tape.
“Dug McDaniel’s career night is an important development at Michigan.”
Michigan may be one of the top 25 teams in the country right now, but St. John’s hasn’t offered enough resistance to accurately assess the Wolverines’ potential. Nevertheless, two players offered a horizon of hope for this season.
Alabama transfer Nimari Burnett opened his night by making his first eight shots. He finished the game with 21 points and was responsible for helping Michigan keep pace with an excited St. John’s team for the first 10 minutes of the game. He had a career-best 19 points with six minutes left in the first half.
“We settled in because Nimari settled in,” Martelli said.
The crazy thing: Burnett had eaten a bagel a few nights before. He didn’t score against Youngstown State. Despite everything he did, it was second-year point guard Dug McDaniel who was the MVP. He scored a game-high 26 points, along with seven assists and six rebounds. McDaniel stands at 5’10” tall, but I can report that’s a classic, generous media guide boost from his school.
If he’s going to be THAT kind of playmaker — a storyline few imagined — then that may change Michigan’s calculus. Martelli told me that McDaniel’s has undergone a major maturation process on and off the field since the spring. Everything culminated in a career evening on Monday. McDaniel is small but demonstrative in his style. An entertaining player who could develop into one of the best guards in the Big Ten. What will be crucial is how much UM can rely on him.
“He really needs to play (almost) 40 minutes,” Martelli said.
Michigan’s backup options on offense are Burnett and not-yet-ready freshman George Washington. (Jaelin Llewellyn is still recovering from an ACL injury.)
Before the game, Michigan players wore the “MICHIGAN VS. EVERYBODY” jerseys that have become the football team’s rallying cry. In a way, it extended to the men’s basketball team due to the low projections from across sports. Motivation for this team? According to the players, not so much.
“We don’t really pay much attention to it [preseason rankings]McDaniel said. “We don’t pay attention to outside noise. It’s kind of fun to be an outsider.
A real test of their credentials will come next week when Michigan travels to the Bahamas to compete in Battle 4 Atlantis. A 2-1 or 3-0 record in this group will completely break this season. We hope Howard is healthy and able to be back on the sidelines in time for this event.