St. Johns relishing pressure of being big-time favorite in Big East Tournament

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For weeks, St.John’s has been the hunted.The team the rest of the Big East has looked to take down.The highest-ranked school in the conference sitting atop the league.This week, that feeling will only be heightened, after the sixth-ranked Johnnies swept the league’s major awards on Wednesday and entered the Big East Tournament as the favorite.They are the top seed, having equaled last year’s Connecticut team for the most wins (18) ever in conference play.

There are massive expectations following the program’s best regular season in 25 years, a belief that a tournament title will land St.John’s a No.

2 seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament.“I think pressure is not knowing what your next meal is going to be, or where you’re laying your head at night,” said RJ Luis Jr., who became the first Johnnie to be named the Big East Player of the Year since Walter Berry in 1986.“Pressure [in basketball] is great.

It obviously comes with success.If we didn’t want this type of pressure, we would’ve never won the regular-season championship, we never would’ve been ranked No.

6 in the nation.“I think pressure is a great thing.The main thing is staying humble during these times and not getting big-headed.” Rick Pitino, named the Big East Coach of the Year for the first time in 12 seasons coaching in the conference, knows how to navigate this tournament.

He won it three times as the Louisville coach.“We better win it or I’m going to jump in the East River,” he joked to NBC’s Bruce Beck.St.John’s (27-4), it should be noted, has handled heightened expectations, extra attention and hype well.

The Johnnies have lost just once since New Year’s Eve.They appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” last week, and followed that up with their best win of the year, at No.

25 Marquette.�...