St. John's vs Gonzaga: Preview & Prediction

    
March 15th, 2011 by Raphielle Johnson
» Tags
(6) St. John's vs. (11) Gonzaga

Southeast Region - Denver

March 17 - 9:45 CBS

It's been a little too long between NCAA Tournament appearances for St. John's but the Red Storm are back in the first year of the Steve Lavin era. Dwight Hardy took off beginning in mid-January, and the move to point guard has paid off for the senior. But they'll be without their most versatile player in wing D.J. Kennedy, who tore his ACL in the Big East Championship last week. But it won't be one guy who replaces his contributions; instead it will have to be a number of players simply doing a little bit more as it's near impossible to simply replace a player of Kennedy's caliber. And if that isn't enough of a challenge how about traveling all the way out to Denver to take on Gonzaga? The Bulldogs improved in the latter stages of the season and with weapons such as Steven Gray, Elias Harris and Robert Sacre, head coach Mark Few won't lack for scoring options. They may be an 11-seed but Gonzaga getting to the Sweet 16 should not be considered a surprise if it were to happen.

 

CHN Team Capsules (w/ stats, records, and rankings):

St. John's

Gonzaga

 

Stars to Watch:

G Dwight Hardy (St. John's)

G Steven Gray (Gonzaga)

 

Vegas Odds:

St. John's -2

 

Predictions:

RealTimeRPI: St. John's 67 - Gonzaga 66

KenPom: Gonzaga 69 - St. John's 68

CollegeHoops.net Betting Pick: Gonzaga

 

»