5 Struggling Teams Entering the 2019 NCAA Tournament

St. John's Red Storm

The story of the St. John's Red Storm basketball season is similar to that of the aforementioned Sooners. Albeit against weak competition, St. John's was dominant in non-conference play, recording a 12-1 record in that portion of their schedule.

But even in a down year for the Big East conference, St. John's failed to capitalize in conference play, instead falling victim in very winnable games as they posted an 8-10 record in conference. This culminated with the Red Storm finishing their regular season with three straight losses, two against the Xavier Musketeers and one against the DePaul Blue Demons.

The smallest margin of defeat in those three games was nine points.

In the Big East tournament, they were able to pull out a win against DePaul before getting absolutely drubbed at the hands of Marquette.

In his postgame presser, head coach Chris Mullin said the team is going to take "a break from each other" over the next few days. That's not exactly the chemistry of a team poised to make a deep run in the tournament.

Because of the struggles, St. John's has to play a play-in game against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Their reward for victory would be a date with the 6 seed Buffalo Bulls in the round of 64.