Who? The Red Storm of St. John's. Also known as Johnnies.
What? It's very hard to anthropomorphize a storm, but St. John's did its best with Johnny Thunderbird, with an uncomfortable smidgen of political incorrectness thrown in (given that Red Storm was changed from Redmen because of possible unfortunate implications regarding Native Americans).
Where? Queens. If you want anything more accurate, ask the post office. Hillcrest or Jamaica Estates would be my best guess. Despite the website, they're not in Jamaica- they're a bit too far north for that.
When? Saturday the 19th, versus Texas Tech in Palo Alto.
Why? Because St. John's managed to lay an egg pretty much every time they were on national television. I do believe that affected their seeding, both because of the record and because of people's perception of them, and knocked them down to a 9- this team is not that much worse than the 6 seed they were last year.
How? They were an at-large selection from the Big East.
Who's driving this thing, anyway? Kim Barnes Arico, since 2002. You don't want to be in the wrong place on defense around her, you really don't. I think there's a senior at Hawaii who still wakes up with Kim's voice ringing in her head.
RPI: 33
SOS: 33
Record: 21-10 (9-7 Big East)
Best win: Georgetown (H, overtime), Marist (N)
Worst loss: Kansas State (A)
Notable results: Southern Miss (81-50, H), where the team ended with four players on the court; Maryland (66-60, L, A), when they out-rebounded the Terrapins. Your intrepid blogger holds the biased opinion that this team should not have lost as badly to West Virginia or DePaul as they did.
Short form: junior forward Da'Shena Stevens is a workhorse (12.1 points, 6.5 rebounds), but the fortunes of this team will turn on the streaky offense of two sophomore guards, starter Shenneika Smith and reserve Eugeneia McPherson. (Also, if sophomore point guard Nadirah McKenith finds herself with an open shot to knock off a higher seed on their home floor, she should take it this time.) Long form: um, you can get the really, really long form by checking out pretty much everything I've ever written, both here and here.