Can St. John's Prove Itself By Defeating Kansas?

Kansas at St. John's

The Kansas Jayhawks entered the season as a Final Four favorite and a top-five team in the nation, but have since fallen to No. 8 in the most recent poll after a one-point loss to unranked Dayton at the buzzer.

The meeting with St. John's will be the first college basketball game at the brand new UBS Arena at Belmont. There is no doubt that the Johnnies will be raring to go, eager to take on a highly-ranked team like Kansas. This is a huge opportunity for St. John's, which has finally become relevant after years of failure. Make no mistake, Kansas can very well lose this game to a team looking to make a statement.

It will be interesting to see what would happen should St. John's win this game. If they do, the Johnnies could have a number next to their name for the first time in a long time.

It is just awesome to see St. John's be relevant again. Julian Champagnie is truly a superstar that can score with the best players in the nation. He's averaging 21.3 points per game this season after being the Big East's top scorer last season. Posh Alexander, last season’s conference freshman of the year and co-defensive player of the year has been an absolute menace again defensively. He's also been getting his teammates involved by dishing out a very high 6.6 assists per game.

Head coach Mike Anderson has never had a losing season in his career, and at 5-1 already this season, it doesn't look too likely that this will be his first. Last year’s team finished with a winning record for the first time in six seasons, and they will look to finally make an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Kansas' loss to Dayton was ugly. Jalen Wilson has gotten off to a very slow start, and if Kansas is to meet expectations this season, he has to play better. Period. He was suspended for the first three games and has been ineffective in his first three games back. He totaled just six points on 10 shots in games against Dayton and Iona. Wilson averaged nearly 12-8 last season and created problems for opposing teams with his size and offensive skill.

Kansas vs. St. John's Prediction

I think Kansas wins due to their better overall talent and offensive abilities, but I wouldn't completely count out St. John's from giving Kansas all it can handle. On paper, St. John's is a tournament team that possesses depth, experience, size and athleticism that recent teams have lacked. While this may turn out as a loss for the Johnnies, they have a promising future.

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