St. John’s should be better than this by now under Mike Anderson

Count me among the folks who badly wanted Mike Anderson to work out as head coach at St. John’s. I’ve known Anderson for more than 30 years, since he was cutting his teeth as Nolan Richardson’s top assistant at Arkansas and I was a kid sportswriter who was around that program every day for two years.

That was like a post-grad course in big-time basketball, watching Nolan shape and coax and cajole some awfully fun Razorbacks teams. Anderson, a loyal sidekick going back to when he’d played for Richardson at Tulsa, was every bit as important to that success, which culminated in the 1994 national title for Arkansas.

That also launched Anderson to a fine career as a head coach — 20 years at UAB, Missouri, Arkansas and St. John’s; 20 years in which he has never once suffered a losing record. Go back through the archives and see how many coaches are able to say that. Dean Smith can’t. Mike Krzyzewski can’t. Bob Knight can’t. John Thompson can’t.

Mike Anderson can, and will almost certainly make it 21-for-21 with this year’s Johnnies.

But just as certainly, unless St. John’s goes on an immediate nine-game winning streak or manages to make a memorable (and improbable) three-game or four-game rip through the Big East Tournament in March, they will miss the NCAA Tournament for a fourth-straight year.

And things are once again getting a little dicey on Utopia Parkway.

The Johnnies followed up their best win of the season, an 85-74 thrashing of then-No. 6 Connecticut in Hartford last Sunday — a game that, remarkably, wasn’t nearly as close as the final score — with one of the uglier games Madison Square Garden has seen in a long, long time.

Villanova’s 57-49 rock-fight victory was a buzzkill on so many levels. There was zero carryover from the win over UConn (and though the Huskies are in the middle of their own surprising funk, they remain one of the Big East’s signature teams). Villanova, while a regal name with an impeccable Garden résumé in recent years, is hardly the Villanova of recent vintage. Just four days earlier, the Wildcats were life-and-death with Georgetown, at home, before handing the Hoyas a 28th straight Big East loss.

Worst of all, the Johnnies led Villanova 44-38 with 8 ¹/₂ minutes left, in front of the best home crowd of the year — 13,604 folks who were audibly (and adamantly) pro-SJU. And from there, they scored exactly five points. Villanova—– which needs its own substantial run of good fortune to eke back into the NCAAs — took the game clear away from the Johnnies.

It was ugly. It was inexplicable.

And, truthfully, inexcusable.

The Johnnies needed to be better than this in Year 4 under Anderson. They should be better than this. There is talent here. Even better, it is the kind of talent that syncs with Anderson’s style, a descendant of the old “Forty Minutes of Hell” at Arkansas. There really are times in games when it feels like the Johnnies are playing 7-on-5, the defense is so relentless.

That was the team we saw Sunday at Connecticut, and that team would be top-three in the league. But we’ve seen that team too infrequently, and we certainly didn’t see it Friday night at the Garden. It needs to appear quickly, and with legs, or else they are looking at an NIT bid that doesn’t even mean the little bit it used to mean, since the NIT isn’t played at the Garden anymore.

Since Lou Carnesecca retired, the Johnnies’ gig has been a revolving door, a shocking development when you consider that in the 56 years from 1936-92, just five men coached the team: Carnesecca (twice), Joe Lapchick (twice), Frank McGuire, Dusty DeStefano and Frank Mulzoff. Anderson is No. 7 since Looie. It shouldn’t be that way.

But unless something unexpected happens … well, Rick Pitino is lurking in New Rochelle (though he will almost certainly have other opportunities, maybe even at Georgetown). Too many other obvious ships (Danny Hurley, Tim Cluess, Bob McKillop) have already sailed.

Anderson should have worked out here. Maybe there is a surprise lurking across the next eight or nine weeks, and he still can. I still believe St. John’s can again be what it once was. But the opposing testimony sure is getting to be a taller and taller stack.

Vac’s Whacks

Sweeny Murti has managed to pull off the rarest of daily doubles: He has been excellent in a high-profile broadcasting job for 30 years and yet remains as humble and accessible to listeners as he was his first day at WFAN. He is also a gentleman, and great company. Can’t wait to see where your next adventure will take you, Sundance.

David Crosby died the other day after a lifetime spent making endless contributions to the great American songbook. And you have to believe, at 81, with the life he lived, that he got his money’s worth.

If Damar Hamlin were ever able to appear at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium on Sunday, in any capacity, I do hope the Bills had engineers in this week to test the old joint’s foundation. Because the locals might really test it to its limit.

Funny how Knicks fans are so quick to point out Mitch Robinson’s offensive shortcomings when he’s playing, then have to watch what they look like on defense in his absence.

Whack Back at Vac

John Wagner: You are right on about the Phanatic being better than Mr. Met but … I disagree with MSG over the Palestra. If you had the original Garden, your point would be valid. However, the current version only dates from 1968, while the original Palestra, dating from 1927, is still the best site in college basketball.

Vac: For college games alone, there is the Palestra, there is Phog Allen Fieldhouse and there is everyplace else, MSG (and, yes, the Reilly Center) included. Concession made.

Charles Costello: Win or lose — and the Knicks have certainly had their fair share of struggles at home this year — having spent Monday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, I can’t dream of a better sports venue to be at on Martin Luther King Day than the World’s Most Famous Arena.

Vac: And the Knicks were way ahead of the curve securing MLK Day as an annual holiday destination, too.

@hbunsis: I really appreciated your column on John Mara; to me, he has always bled Giants blue. You can quibble with some hires, but he is a hands-on owner who knows football and only wants to win. Contrast him with Dolan and the Wilpons, not even close.

Vac: There is a stark difference between an owner who makes bad decisions and a bad
owner, put it that way.

Frank Giordano: The Jets must be in the Lamar Jackson sweepstakes. The oft-injured former MVP has not come close to that season and likes to help the other team win. He single-handedly gave the Giants a game this season. So I guess the Jets will sign him?

Vac: That may be the single-Jetsiest email in the history of email.