St. John’s fans blast March Madness seed on Selection Sunday

St. John's player Zuby Ejiofor during Red Storm's Big East Tournament win

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Matthew Couden

By Matthew Couden

Contributing Writer

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With the arrival of Selection Sunday, college basketball teams learned their seeds, matchups, and dates for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Among those earning entry to March Madness were the various conference tournament winners, including the St. John's Red Storm, who were in with or without winning last night's Big East Tournament. However, they defeated the UConn Huskies for a second time, avenging their 30-point loss from over a week ago.

With that dominant win over the Huskies on Saturday night, many felt it would have improved the seed that St. John's received for the tournament. However, the committee determined they would be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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St. John's player Zuby Ejiofor during Red Storm's Big East Tournament win

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An X (formerly Twitter) post informed fans of the decision for a No. 5 seed, as St. John's will travel to California for the East region.

The East region features the Duke Blue Devils as the No. 1 overall seed. Along with that, Red Storm fans learned that the Red Storm is in the same East bracket as the No. 2 seed UConn.

Many fans expressed frustration with the decision, feeling that St. John's deserved a higher seed and UConn should've been lower than a No. 2 seed.

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"As the Big East regular season and tournament champion, a 5 seed is really a disgrace. Time to f s*** up in the tournament," one commenter said on the X post.

Others wrote, "Screwed us with the location and seeding. Unreal," and "How are they and UCONN in the same region?? That’s crazy!"

"Completely disrespected. Hope the boys play with that fire burning extra hot," another X commenter said.

"How does a team enter a week at 13 then win their tournament beating #6 UConn and not get at least a 4. The bias against Pitino is criminal," a fan wrote.

"The disrespect seeding them at 5 & then placing them in that quarter of the bracket," an individual commented on the post.

Looking at the teams St. John’s played this past season, they lost to tournament teams, including Alabama, Iowa State, and UConn. In addition, they lost to Auburn, a team that was among the last four teams out of the March Madness bracket.

There's also been a strong argument made about the Big East being among the weakest overall conferences this past season, and that showed with just three teams making the tournament. In addition to St. John's and UConn, Villanova is a No. 8 seed in the field.

For their first round opponent, the St. John's Red Storm will play the East's No.15 seed, the University of Northern Iowa, with the game arriving on Friday, March 20.