You may think this is going to sound crazy, but the St. John’s players don’t think so.

The Red Storm face a must-win situation today when they open the season against Stony Brook, a team they have beaten the last two years by an average of 35 points. Why do we consider the first game of the season against an overmatched opponent a must-win game?

“I think this could set the tone for the entire season,” said St. John’s co-captain Sharif Fordham. “We don’t want to remind ourselves about last year. We want to win and start building a foundation. A loss would be shocking.”

It certainly would be. Not only did St. John’s beat Stony Brook by 30 last season but it welcomed the Seawolves to Division I ball two years ago with an 84-43 shellacking. And Stony Brook will be without its starting point guard, Larry Jennings, who’s out another 3-4 weeks with a broken foot.

On paper, this should be another rout. But another piece of paper, the Red Storm’s final stats from 2000-2001, explain why Fordham and his teammates don’t want to be reminded of last year.

The Red Storn went 14-15, failing to make postseason play. Losing, like winning, is contagious and this St. John’s team heads into its season debut with its confidence shaken by last season’s debacle.

“I have total confidence in my teammates,” said Fordham. “I think we learned a lot from last year and there are a lot of players who are so much better than they were last season.”

Stony Brook gained some confidence in its second season of Division I ball. The Seawolves went 17-11, although the schedule was padded with some Division III schools and lesser Division I teams.

Now Stony Brook begins its first season in the America East conference, taking one of the slots that opened when Hofstra bolted for the Colonial Athletic Association. “Our goal is to be competitive,” said Stony Brook coach Nick Macarchuk. “We don’t talk about winning this game. I think you have to be competitive with a team before you can start talking about winning. We haven’t been competitive.”