There isn’t a player on this St. John’s team who was on the Garden court last year when it handed Notre Dame one of its worst beatdowns of the season, so there’s nothing to prepare the young Johnnies for what they may face today in the World’s Most Famous Arena (noon, ESPN2, WBBR 1130 AM).
“They toyed with us last year,’’ Notre Dame coach Mike Brey told The Post. “The game was over in 10 minutes. It was men against boys.
“I’m going to put together some film to show them,’’ Brey added. “I can’t imagine our guys forgot about it. You shouldn’t forget a loss like that.’’
Last season’s senior-laden Red Storm pummeled the Irish 72-54 in a game that wasn’t that close. This year, St. John’s is mainly composed of five freshmen starters and juco power forward God’sgift Achiuwa.
The Irish (20-8, 12-3 Big East) are the more experienced squad this season, and they are enjoying one of the great runs in school history. They have ripped off nine straight league wins, a remarkable accomplishment under any circumstances, but even more so considering what the Irish have overcome.
Notre Dame lost top returning scorer Tim Abromaitis to a knee injury and had to adjust on the fly. The Irish took some hits early, getting blasted by Missouri and Gonzaga. But players such as power forward Jack Cooley have picked up the scoring, freshman Pat Connaughton is playing like a sophomore and the young backcourt of Eric Atkins and Jerian Grant gives Notre Dame a quickness it has not often had.
But what separates the Notre Dame program now, in Brey’s 12th season, as opposed to his first eight or nine years, is the toughnessthat has been developed. The word on Irish years ago was the team did not have much fight. Brey always had teams that could score, but in a league based on toughness and defense, that wasn’t good enough.
“The last three years, when Luke Harangody and we started to run some clock, we became a better defensive team,’’ Brey said. “We had to do that to survive. But since we did that, I think we were 6-8 in league games when Luke first went down, and we’ve gone 29-7 since then. “We’ve done it because we have smart kids. We’re been able to change, not just season to season, but game to game within a season. You can only do that with smart players.’’
Smart and tough. Instead of being among the league leaders in scoring (68.3 points), Notre Dame is fifth in scoring defense (61.6). The Irish believe the toughest guys on campus don’t wear gold helmets.
That’s what St. John’s (12-16, 5-10) will get today. The Johnnies also face an opposing coach who in an unassuming, humble way has begun to be mentioned with the great coaches in the Big East. Brey was voted the league coach of the year in 2007, 2008 and 2011, and he is among the favorites to win it this year. He has done what few professionals in any profession have been able to do — be open to change.
“The baton is handed down,’’ Brey said. “That’s when you can feel good about your program, when the players make it their own, when they set the standards.’’
One standard has eluded the Irish — winning the Big East Tournament.
“We’ll be back [at the Garden] in a couple of weeks, so this is a great opportunity for us,’’ Brey said. “These guys have a chance to do something special.’’
Their coach already has.
