St. John’s wild ride ending in tears proves one thing about its unique character — this team cared

WASHINGTON — This wasn’t supposed to be part of the equation anymore. Cynicism has crept into all of the corners of college basketball. They’re pros now. It’s all a transactional game. Players don’t stick around long enough to learn the words to the alma mater, let alone battle a lump in the throat when it’s played at the end of a game, or a season. 

There aren’t supposed to be tears anymore. 

There were tears Friday night. Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell sat behind a couple of microphones deep in the bowels of Capital One Arena, maybe half an hour after a valiant attempt to topple a basketball citadel known as the Duke Blue Devils. St. John’s led by one at halftime. They led by 10 five minutes into the second half, and were still within three with under 10 seconds to go. 

It ended 80-75, Duke. It ended one of the great runs in St. John’s history, a 21-1 stretch that against almost any other team in the tournament might have stretched to 22-1. It didn’t. To the red-clad fans who’d tried to make Capital One sound like the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there were a lot of sore throats and a lot of long faces. These are the people who are supposed to wear the emotions now.