St. John’s vs. Arizona State Bracket Prediction: March Madness First Four Odds
The First Four stage of the NCAA Tournament concludes on Wednesday night from Dayton with No. 11 St. John’s facing No. 11 Arizona State.
St. John’s Red Storm vs. Arizona State Sun Devils NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of this East Region games faces No. 6 seed and Mid-American Conference champion Buffalo on Friday. St. John’s and Arizona State met in the 2017-18 regular season, with the Sun Devils taking an 82-70 decision at a neutral site in Los Angeles.
One interesting story line here is that two of the greatest players in NCAA history are the respective coaches, with former Duke star Bobby Hurley leading Arizona State and Chris Mullin in charge of his alma mater St. John’s.
The Red Storm were the last team in the field according to the selection committee chairman. Some others left out probably will have a gripe considering the Johnnies were just 8-10 in the Big East regular season, good for seventh in the 10-team league. The also lost four of their final five games.
Arizona State is one of three Pac-12 teams in – that league was way down this season. ASU probably doesn’t get a bid if it doesn’t beat UCLA in its Pac-12 Tournament opener before then falling to eventually champion Oregon in overtime.
St. John’s Red Storm
St John’s did have some very quality wins this season, including two over Marquette and one each over Villanova and VCU. Then again, the best team the Johnnies played was Duke and the Blue Devils destroyed them 91-61. St. John’s makes its 29th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and first under Mullin. It last played in the 2015 Big Dance and hasn’t won a game in the tournament since 2000. Mullin was a three-time Big East Player of the Year in his playing days there and led the team to the 1985 Final Four when Mullin was National Player of the Year. Mullin’s best player is two-time first-team All-Big East selection Shamorie Ponds, who leads the team in scoring (19.5 ppg) and assists (5.2 apg).
Arizona State Sun Devils
Hurley won two national titles at Duke and the school retired his jersey No. 11. Hurley’s first head coaching job was against the Sun Devils’ opponent in the first round if they win: Buffalo. ASU had quality wins this season over Mississippi State, Utah State, Kansas and Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington. It’s ASU’s second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It also was a No. 11 in the First Four last year and lost to fellow No. 11 Syracuse 60-56. The Sun Devils were up seven points with seven minutes to go. Their leading scorer this season is freshman Luguentz Dort. The Montreal native averages 16.1 points and 4.3 rebounds.
