Breakdown of the 1985 Redmen

In the 1985 NCAA tournament, St. John’s University was the talk of New York City. The Redmen had four first round draft picks, and a Hall of Fame coach, Lou Carnasecca. Although they did not win the championship, they were in the Final Four with their four star players; Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Mark Jackson, and Bill Wennington. With the help of two time All-American Chris Mullin, 1986 AP national player of the year Walter Berry, one time NBA career assists leader Mark Jackson, and three time NBA champion Bill Wennington; the Redmen were able to beat Southern, Arkansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina State. However, against Georgetown and their future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, they could not triumph.

St. John’s made it to the NCAA playoff tournament and became the number one seed of the West region. St. John’s swept 16th seeded Southern University in the first round by beating their team 83-59. In the second round, they had a difficult challenge in playing against ninth seeded Arkansas. The team was led by Chris Mullin’s 26 points and barely beat them in a 68-65 victory. After making to the round of sixteen, they beat Kentucky 86-70. After beating N.C. State in the round of eight, with a 69-60 victory, this set up St. Johns to play in what was an almost all Big East Final Four. In the final four St. Johns competed against rival Georgetown led by Patrick Ewing. St. Johns had a victory over them the first time they met in the regular-season, but lost two times in their rematches including one loss in the Big East tournament. Georgetown destroyed St. John’s in the Final Four 77-59, ending their second Final Four appearance in school history.