This St Johns team is loaded and very athletic. St. John's has 11 letterwinners, including five starters, back from last season's 17-16 team and welcomes freshman Rysheed Jordan, one of the most highly regarded high school point guards, to the fold. Jordan may be St. John's highest profile freshman since Felipe Lopez back in the early 1990s. "He's the best guard, the most explosive guard I've had in college and that includes Baron Davis," coach Steve Lavin said of his former star at UCLA. "He has made everybody better by the way he practices. He is going to be a very special player." JaKarr Sampson was the Big East rookie of the year last season after averaging 14.9 points and 6.6 rebounds in filling the shoes of Moe Harkless, a first-round draft pick following his freshman season with the Red Storm. Lavin said the team can be one of those that improves all season and becomes a factor in the conference come February.
This game is on a neutral court and I give the edge to St Johns here plus the 5 points as the Badgers have several things working against them. The biggest is the loss of Jared Berggren, Ryan Evans and Mike Bruesewitz, robbing Wisconsin of two top-3 scorers and its three leading rebounders from a season ago.