The words that came out of Gene Smith’s mouth yesterday must sound like music to the ears of any St. John’s fan.

Smith, the chairman of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, was asked by The Post what he considers to be the most important criteria for an at-large team to receive a berth.

“Who have you played?” Smith said. “Where have you played them? And how did you do?”

Who has St. John’s played? They played Duke (won 93-78), Connecticut (won, 89-72), Georgetown (won, 61-58 at home; lost, 77-52 on road), Notre Dame (lost, 76-61 on road; won, 72-54 at home), at UCLA (lost, 66-59), and at West Virginia (won, 81-71).

After an impressive three-game Big East win streak that includes road wins at Cincinnati and Marquette, the Red Storm (16-9 overall, 8-5 Big East) have now won back-to-back league road games twice in a season for the first time since 1999-2000.

St. John’s hasn’t been to the Big Dance since 2002.

In sweeping the Midwest road trip, St. John’s had to rally both times. They trailed 57-54 with 1:27 left at Cincinnati and won 59-57. They fell behind Marquette, 45-38 at the start of the second half and won going away, 80-68.

The resiliency to counterpunch has been the No.1 priority coach Steve Lavin has worked to instill in this team. Mission accomplished.

“St. John’s may not have the most talented team, but they’re going to have a lot of trust in one another, an amount of confidence when things get difficult,” Greg Anthony, an analyst for Turner and former UNLV star, told The Post. “And I think you’re starting to see that.”

St. John’s and Pittsburgh (23-2, 11-1), which meet in the Garden on Saturday (Noon, ESPN), are two of the four most feared teams in the league right now, along with Georgetown and Notre Dame.

Smith also said the committee would not shy away from taking 11 teams from the Big East.