BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: St. John's @ DePaul

January 16, 2007

In a rematch of the conference opener for both teams, won at Madison Square Garden by St. John's, DePaul looks for revenge in a game that still stings a little bit. Tonight they have the reeling Redstorm at home as St. John's looks to break their three game losing streak since their win over the Blue Demons.

I know New York City and Chicago are major league sports towns all the way, but doing a quick search this morning, I found VERY little interest in this game among any of their local newspapers.

Depaul is coming off a win at Rutgers where their athletic teams used a smothering defense to limit offensively-challeneger Rutgers to 37 points. St. John's is nearly as offensively defecient as RU, but the Redstorm does bring some solid athletes and a toughness on the defensive end that usually makes the game a bit closer.

DePaul will have the two best players on the floor in Sammy Mejia and Wilson Chandler, both will be looking to redeem themselves after the conference opening performance against SJU. They also have some depth in the frontcourt that does make them a formidable challenger in the Big East as the season goes and if one of their three potential point guards would finally take the reigns of this team, they might reach their potential.

St. John's, just a frustrating team to figure out, but maybe they just are not really good at all, again. They still struggle shooting the ball or playing defense inside. They have some athletes, but sometimes play some basketball that is tough to watch, especially when they have the ball. Not a very good recipe for success on the road.

The oddsmakers have made DePaul a 12-pt favorite and Pomeroy predicts the outcome in DePaul's favor by 13-pts. It should be as easy, but I think the Redstorm put up a fight tonight.

NBE Blogger Prediction: DePaul 67 St. John's 59