Georgetown's win in Ewing's MSG return reminds St. John's that 1985 has come and gone

Patrick Ewing (left) and Chris Mullin were all smiles before facing off as head coaches for first time Tuesday, but it was Ewing's Georgetown squad that had happy ending, defeating St. John's as Red Storm dropped fifth straight game to begin Big East play. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John's University Athletics)

NEW YORK -- Think I'm going down to the well tonight, and I'm gonna drink 'til I get my fill

And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it, but I probably will

Yeah, just sittin' back, tryin' to recapture a little of the glory of...

Well, the time slips away, leaves you with nothin', mister, but boring stories of...

- Bruce Springsteen, "Glory Days"

Any St. John's fan worth his or her salt, whether they were alive for it or not, knows 1985.

It is regarded as the zenith of the basketball tradition on the corner of Union and Utopia, a year in which Mullin and Jackson, Berry and Wennington, Looie and the sweater, ascended to the top-ranked team in the country and were one of three Big East Conference representatives in a Final Four that ended with fellow conference brethren Villanova playing arguably the closest thing to a perfect game, shooting nearly 80 percent from the floor en route to an improbable national championship victory over Georgetown, the bitter adversary of the then-Redmen.

Since that magical winter that turned into spring, 1985 has become a breeding ground for fans of the Johnnies to wax nostalgic, to ponder the purpose of their program's existence through peaks and valleys that included a run to a regional final at the turn of the century, only to have it swept away in the rubble of a scandal from which some argue the Red Storm have yet to fully recover. One rebuild, followed by prosperous short-term success that led to premature failure, begat another rebuild, with the patron saint of the program as its shepherd.

Make no mistake, when Chris Mullin was hired in March of 2015 as Steve Lavin's successor, a long-suffering fan base turned to him with a collective hopeful gaze, its trust placed within his hands; the same hands that set a school record for career points, to take St. John's back to the promised land after decades of circling its parking lot in search for merely a space to leave their vehicle. After a largely forgettable first season, signs of life took flight in year two, most notably a thrilling upset of nationally-ranked Butler before a sellout crowd at Carnesecca Arena and a victorious Big East tournament slugfest over Georgetown that brought seminal memories rushing back to the stream of many Johnnies fans' consciousness, Mullin's first true defining moment at the helm of his alma mater and, as fate would have it, the last game John Thompson III would coach.

Thompson's replacement turned out to be none other than Patrick Ewing, the same Patrick Ewing that was Mullin's antagonist in their collegiate years, as the seven-footer led Georgetown to a national championship in 1984 before two Olympic gold medals; alongside Mullin, and a career with the New York Knicks that placed him in that elite class of Big Apple sports idols. The road back to piloting the programs they took to great heights over 30 years ago was long and winding for each, and January 9, 2018 was circled on the calendars of college basketball aficionados local and national as the date in which a rivalry would be reprised, recollections would be shared, and the ghosts of Big East past would be; for a two-and-a-half-hour moment in time, reborn on the same Madison Square Garden stage that turned a nascent feud into a storied epic.

"It's a great rivalry," Ewing would reflect in his postgame press conference. "Both schools have a rich tradition. Before myself and Chris, there was Looie and Coach Thompson, then you had myself and Chris playing against each other, and now it's gone full circle, you have both of us coaching against each other. We both played a sport that we love, battled each other, become friends, won two gold medals together, and now we're battling each other again. I think it's what dreams are made of."

The sugary sweet superlatives would end there, as Georgetown and St. John's took to the floor for a basketball ballet that was, in all honesty, not what most would consider aesthetically palatable. In essence, it was a 40-minute rock fight contested among two teams at the bottom of the conference standings, one team in Georgetown expected to be there after retooling and presenting a largely young roster as its battalion, the other a victim of circumstance and apparent injuries to highlight a lack of depth that left a cadre of upside vulnerable to the threats of more complete teams with a full complement of players. In the end, the Hoyas emerged victorious, downing St. John's by the final of 69-66 on a go-ahead three-pointer from 6-foot-10 junior center and Queens Village native Jessie Govan and two free throws from Jonathan Mulmore as the Red Storm lost track of time in the left corner while Justin Simon searched in vain for an open teammate as the buzzer sounded.

"I've had a lot of great memories here," Ewing recounted, bringing his journey full circle after the Hoyas (12-4, 2-3 Big East) survived 33 percent shooting and 22 turnovers to outlast St. John's. "I've had ups and downs, and a lot of good and bad memories against that guy (Mullin). It was like old times, it was a knockdown, drag-out fight, one of those ugly games." 

"I'm gonna go ice my elbow right now," he quipped upon disembarking from the dais inside the Garden's media room.

On the other side of the court, the dreams harbored by St. John's fans of rising from the ashes remain unrealized, hindered instead by the sobering reminder of just how difficult it is to overcome adversity as Marcus LoVett's extended, sprained MCL-induced hiatus has cast a pall on the high hopes that have now been dampened by the program's third winless beginning to their first five games of Big East play in five seasons, even as the redshirt sophomore appears closer to a return, as hinted by Mullin when he noted his goal was to get LoVett back on the floor for practice Wednesday.

"It's frustrating losing, especially knowing that you have the pieces to win," said Justin Simon as the Red Storm (10-7, 0-5 Big East) saw Shamorie Ponds appear to reaggravate a prior knee injury while Bashir Ahmed endured a 102-degree fever and was limited to just two points in the losing effort. "We have the pieces, we have the staff. We just have to find a way to put it all together."

Simon's coach, however, took a more pragmatic approach to the inauspicious start to the conference slate, one that has had fans taking to social media to voice their objections with the direction of the program, some even overreacting by saying Mullin should be fired. In the Hall of Famer's defense, he recognizes the ample time left to try to right the ship, and has indicated encouragement by the flashes of brilliance his team has exhibited.

"I'm neither surprised nor upset," Mullin said when the losing streak was first broached. "We're not going to try and undo what has gone on, but we just have to keep competing and keep working hard. Things will turn for us."

"There's been a lot of improvements, no question," he elaborated. "Into the third year, that process continues. You can't really map it out exactly, because it's not a straight line up. You're gonna hit some peaks and valleys, and that's the important part. Everyone has an idea of how they want it to go, but that timeline is always variable."

Naturally, the Red Storm fan base is maintaining the ideal of an expedited turnaround, one that will bring back the halcyon days of 1985, still they cling to hope that good breaks will befall St. John's basketball, yet another sign of optimism as the scar tissue resumes its gradual healing process. Until then, the seemingly nomadic trek through season after season serves as a haunting harbinger of a time-tested adage.

Glory days will pass you by.