1979 St. John’s Basketball: The Surprise Elite Eight Run

St. John’s basketball was on a good run coming into the 1979 season. In an era when making the NCAA Tournament was considerably more difficult than it is today, Lou Carnesecca’s program had earned three consecutive NCAA bids. In ’79, after playing mediocre basketball for much of the year, they made it four straight NCAA invites—and then did some major damage in March.

THE YOUNG LINEUP

Reggie Carter in the backcourt and Wayne McKey up front were the keys to success. Both averaged 15ppg, and McKey was good for eight rebounds a night. Bernard Rencher ran the show at the point, scoring in double-digits and handing out five assists per game.

Carnesecca filled in around them with a mix of Gordon Thomas, Ron Plair, and Rudy Wright, who all combined to get 23 points/11 rebounds per game.

With Thomas and Wright being the only two seniors among this group, in an era when most players put in all four years, expectations weren’t high for a young team. St. John’s was unranked to start the season.

THE DECEMBER ROLLER-COASTER

The season opened with two games against small programs whose coaches were headed for big things. On Black Friday, facing Gary Williams’ American team, the Redmen barely escaped with a 72-70 win. The date with Wagner, led by P.J. Carlesimo, went a little easier, ending in a 108-91 win.

But a 73-66 home loss to mediocre Wisconsin was a big warning sign. After a couple of perfunctory wins, St. John’s hosted Georgetown. The Hoyas were ranked #20 and handed the Redmen a 77-71 loss. That was followed by an embarrassing 90-77 defeat at Columbia.

St. John’s needed to right the ship when BYU came to Queens. The Cougars were headed for a 5-seed in this year’s NCAA bracket and the Redmen got a big 90-83 win. After knocking off Tennessee Tech, it was time for St. John’s to host a two-day event in Madison Square Garden to end the calendar year.

Rutgers might not seem like a marquee name, but in 1979, the Scarlet Knights were just three years removed from an undefeated regular season and Final Four trip. By this March, they would be a 6-seed. And on the final Friday before the New Year, they handed St. John’s a 72-61 loss.

Starting the season 6-4 is cause for modest alarm in today’s college basketball world. In 1979, even with the expansion of the NCAA Tournament to 40 teams, it was more acute. The Redmen needed something. And on Saturday, they got it in a big way. Duke, ranked #1 in the country and fresh off an appearance in the previous year’s national title game was the opponent. And Carnesecca’s team pulled out a 69-66 win.

December had been less than stellar, but the wins over BYU and Duke showed this young team had an upside.

SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

The Big East was a year away from being formally organized, so St. John’s was still a quasi-independent with informal relationships with the other key programs in the East. January began with a visit to Seton Hall. The Pirates were a respectable team, coached by Bill Raftery, and they won 16 games. The Redmen lost 76-70 and then dropped a one-point heartbreaker at home to a very good Temple team who was headed for the NCAA Tournament.

St. John’s followed that up with a less-than-impressive win over the Baltimore Super Bees (yes, that program really existed for five years at the Division I level). The Redmen made a more decisive showing at mediocre Villanova, winning by twenty. But a 71-70 loss to a pretty good Rhode Island squad again set St. John’s back.

By the end of January, they were 9-8 and even getting an NIT bid looked like it would be a fight.

THE FEBRUARY SURGE

The Redmen traveled across town to play a bad Manhattan team and rolled the Jaspers by 25. St. John’s went to Philly and won a grinding defensive battle with a respectable St. Joe’s squad 47-40. Beating Army 72-65 wasn’t notable in the moment, although from the perspective of history, the Cadets had a young head coach named Mike Krzyzewski.

An 80-52 rout of Niagara furthered St. John’s momentum. Boston College came to Queens. The Eagles were en route to a 21-win season. The Redmen won 85-76 and the coasted past Fordham and Holy Cross. This season might not be dead yet.

Momentum crested with a 79-72 loss at Syracuse, but at least the Orangemen were ranked seventh in the nation. The season closed with a 70-65 home win over subpar Providence, notable in that was the final game coached by Dave Gavitt, before he went on to make his legend as commissioner of the Big East Conference.

The regular season ended with St. John’s at 17-9. As it turned out, that NCAA Tournament expansion to 40 teams, with ten per region, came just in time—the Redmen got the 10-seed in the East.

TAKING DOWN TEMPLE

The journey started in Raleigh with a rematch against Temple. McKey was brilliant, scoring 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds, while hitting 11 of 14 shots from the floor. Carter knocked down 20 of his own. Rencher finished with six assists. And the role players delivered. Thomas came off the bench to hit five of his seven shots. Plair pounded the glass to the tune of ten boards. St. John’s won 75-70.

THE BIG UPSET

Another rematch was next, this time against 2-seed Duke. The Redmen trailed by five at the half. But Carter and McKey were coming through again. This time, they combined to score 39 points. Thomas continued to play a big role off the bench, chipping in 12 points. Facing a team with a “Big Three” of Mike Gminski, Jim Spanarkel, and Gene Banks, the Redmen pulled a stunning 80-78 upset.

St. John’s shocker over Duke came in conjunction with Penn upending top-seeded North Carolina at this same venue. The underdogs from the Northeast had come to Tobacco Road and handed the home favorites big upsets in an era where this wasn’t common in NCAA Tournament play. The day would take its place in the state of North Carolina’s basketball lore as “Black Saturday.”

THE WILD, WILD EAST

The East Regional was gutted, with 4-seed Syracuse the highest-ranked team left when the Sweet 16 began in Greensboro the following Friday. As for St. John’s, they had a third straight rematch on their hands. This one was against Rutgers, who got here by upsetting Georgetown.

St. John’s again turned a modest halftime deficit into a win. Carter scored 22 points. McKey was held to 10 points but grabbed seven rebounds. This time, the role player making an impact was Fran Gilroy, with eight rebounds. The Redmen pulled out a 65-63 thriller.

In the meantime, the gutting of the East continued when Penn knocked off Syracuse. Quite improbably, a season that looked lost when February began was just one win away from the Final Four.

THE STRONG RUN ENDS

The weekend of the regional finals saw matchups like Larry Bird’s undefeated Indiana State team facing Arkansas and Sidney Moncrief. DePaul was looking to get their veteran head coach Ray Meyer, his first Final Four appearance against UCLA, who was still just four years removed from the Wooden Era. Magic Johnson and Michigan State were taking on 1-seed Notre Dame in a high-profile matchup.

Against all that, 10-seed St. John and 9-seed Penn was seen as the outlier. But outlier or no, it was still a Final Four opportunity and the Redmen and Quakers played a terrific basketball game.

Plair had a big day, hitting all nine of his shots from the floor and scoring 21 points. McKey added 15. But Carter, so good on this tournament run, struggled to a 2-for-9 game. St. John’s was outscored at the free throw line 20-12. That was the difference in a 64-62 loss.

It was still an excellent NCAA Tournament run that capped off a strong finish to the season. The young team had come together, and they would return to share the first official Big East title a year later.

Lou Carnesecca coached better teams than this 1979 edition throughout his Hall of Fame career at St. John’s. But only his great 1985 Final Four team went further in March.