TUCSON — It was written on the board in the St. John’s locker room in Alumni Hall at the first team meeting back in October.

Big East Championship.

Sweet 16.

Elite 8.

Final Four.

National Championship.

Well, it’s one down, four to go.

Four goals of incredibly lofty proportions. Four goals that would never have been contemplated a year ago at this time.

But the Red Storm players raised the bar for themselves last year when they came within seconds of advancing to the Final Four as the No. 3 seed in the South.

Tomorrow, St. John’s begins play in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West, and the players have their sights on those four goals.

“Right now, we’re the team to beat,” forward Lavor Postell said by phone yesterday from the team plane headed for Tucson. “We’re determined to make it to the end. It’s going to be difficult for teams to run with us the way we’ve been playing.”

The way St. John’s has been playing has been nothing short of breath-taking. The Johnnies have won 11 of their last 12, including winning the Big East Conference Championship.

The NCAA Tournament begins tomorrow for St. John’s when it takes on Northern Arizona, champion of the Big Sky Conference. The Lumberjacks are seeded 15th in the West, and they know the odds are stacked against a No. 15 seed upsetting a No. 2.

“Three times [it’s happened],” said Northern Arizona star Ross “3 Point” Land. “I know the odds are pretty much against us, but you have to believe in yourself. Anything is possible.”

The Lumberjacks’ goals are not nearly as lofty as the Red Storm’s, but they have not made the four-hour bus ride to Tucson just to be blown away by St. John’s. Land laid out the Lumberjacks’ goals.

Win the Big Sky regular season title.

Win the Big Sky Tournament.

Win a couple of games in the NCAA Tournament.

Two down, one to go.

“I’ll tell you what, we’re not going to change anything that we’ve done in the last two months,” said Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras. “We’re going to approach it with a very solid gameplan and have our guys as prepared as we possibly can be. I’m expecting our guys to approach it with a ‘This is going to be fun,’ very relaxed attitude. And let’s go out there and try to do the best we can.”

St. John’s believes doing the best it can means winning it all.

The Red Storm players have beaten the likes of Syracuse, Duke, Miami and Connecticut. But they haven’t lost sight of the goals.

“Coach [Mike Jarvis] told us at that meeting that we can go further this year,” said senior guard Bootsy Thornton. “But he also told us not to downplay what we accomplished. A lot of teams would have liked to accomplish what we did. But once you get there, you want to go further.”

It is not unreasonable to think Thornton and Co. can extend their season into the first week of April and make it to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

The Red Storm boarded American Airlines flight 723 bound for Tucson through Dallas yesterday morning at La Guardia Airport.

There have been many times this season the Red Storm wondered if a trip such as this was meant to be. Erick Barkley needed knee surgery and missed two games. Then he was declared ineligible for two games for swapping cars with a family friend. Then he was forced to miss another game because Riverside Church paid a portion of his prep school tuition.

On Monday, the day before the Red Storm were to leave for Tucson, the NCAA was back, asking questions of Barkley and Postell.

Barkley was all smiles Monday afternoon, as if he no longer had a care in the world. These Red Storm players have become Teflon coated. While the NCAA asks questions, the Red Storm will pursue its goals.

“I think we’re very mentally tough,” said Chudney Gray. “All the adversity has made us stronger. We almost hit rock bottom midway through the season when we lost Erick and had to win those four games without one of our special players.”