At their best, these Johnnys offer a glimpse of what they could become if Rick Pitino's plans take a few years to germinate and grow. At their best, they play defense so ferocious that you can see genuine fear in the eyes of opponents trying to beat the 10-second clock just to get the ball beyond half court. .
At their best, they have multiple inside-out options in Danis Jenkins, RJ Lewis Jr., and Jordan Dingle to get other players up, with Chris Ledrum logging lunch-pail minutes and Joel Soriano plays the kind of game he had 21 points and nine rebounds against Villanova on Wednesday night, and everything felt perfect.
For now, you can get the best of Johnny for some parts of the game. We had a huge success Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The Johnnies pummeled Villanova early and stomped on the Wildcats' necks in the second half, securing a thorough 70-50 victory in front of 12,859 mostly satisfied fans (with the notable exception of Jaylen). Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Ryan Arcidiacono, all of whom sat courtside and looked somber as the spread widened).
“Our pressure was great,” Pitino said, reserving his highest praise for Soriano. “He understood how important this game was for us. He was great. I was happy with how he played and I was happy with the team's play.”
If the Johnnies can bottle those pieces up and evenly distribute them over the next few weeks against teams like Creighton, University-Convention, and Marquette, then perhaps this team is destined for It can be seen as more than that. Upcoming programs, upcoming templates.
Of course, that's enough for now.
For now, beating Villanova and giving Creighton, University Con, and Marquette hell until the final horn was a welcome relief from what has happened all too often in these parts for Big East basketball over the past 25 years. This is a necessary step forward. The fact that they've accomplished enough, including the Red Storm's first sweep of the Cats in 31 years, means something a little more tangible.
“It was an important game for us,” Pitino said. “I'm not going to bully you guys. They needed it. We needed it. And we got through it.”
“We knew this game was very important, we knew it was going to bring a lot of energy, and we rose to the challenge,” Soriano said.
They did it. This means Johnny can plan for the first few days of the NCAA Tournament because it feels like he's playing for the seed line instead of just sweating it out on Sunday. That may have been a little worrying after last week's game against Seton Hall, which erased heartbreaking losses to Creighton and Marquette.
However, the Johnnies are currently 13-7 and ranked No. 41 in the NET, likely moving up two or three spots from when Nova was No. 36. Also, the schedule in the second half of the league is much more comfortable than in the league. There were four games remaining in the first half against league-worst DePaul and Georgetown, and five games remaining at the Garden (and a chance for a Quad 1 spot with six games remaining).
In the coming years, their climbs will become less innocent, and their hurdles less modest. That was the whole idea when Pitino was hired. For the better part of 20 years, Utopia Parkway had long stretches of misery, with occasional bursts of prosperity in January and February, but even those years were marked by brawls to the end.
In so many ways, this is why this is the first true must-have game of the Pitino era. It was necessary to stop the losing streak before the infection spread. They needed to win Quad 1. They needed to prove that an 0-3 slump was an anomaly and not a 4-1 start.
“We lost some really tough games at the buzzer,” Pitino said. “But tonight didn't overshadow who wins this game.”
Said Dingle (12 points, 4 assists): “We know that every game we play is extremely important in terms of our postseason potential.”
It is now fair to consider that possibility to be more like a probability. This game achieved that. It was a reaffirmation of what this team is all about. A crew of workers, a cast with various parts assembled on site and professional guidance. Most of the time it makes for some very fun basketball, and some nights it feels like Johnny can play with anyone. Sometimes it's something else.
that's ok. This is the beginning of the game. This is the team that all teams for the next few years will be judged on. So far, not only have they been equally up to the task, they've also enjoyed it.
And it makes you think about what's going to happen next.
