This was supposed to be the year St. John's broke through into the upper echelon of the Big East ranks.

A season ago, the Red Storm compiled a 22-8 record (11-6 in Big East play), finishing fourth in the conference standings and claiming a first-round bye in the Big East tournament.

St. John's later advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament where it would fall 81-74 to the eventual national champion Maryland Terrapins.

Postseason honors for the Red Storm included head coach Kim Barnes Arico being named Big East Coach of the Year, as well as juniors Angela Clark and Kia Wright being named to the All-Big East First Team.

Yes, 2006-'07 was going to be groundbreaking for St. John's. Right up until the season started.

After just one game (a 66-56 loss to Iona in the Preseason NIT) in which she did not play, Clark left the team for ever-ambiguous "personal reasons." That left the Red Storm without a key contributor who averaged 13.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 2005-'06.

Without Clark in the lineup, St. John's got off to a dismal start and sits at 7-15 overall and 3-8 in Big East action, good for a tie for 12th place in the conference standings.

Rebounding, one of the team's biggest strengths a season ago, has become yet another unchecked box in the long list of to-dos for the Red Storm. Last year, St. John's finished second in the conference in rebounding margin. This season, the Red Storm are 11th.

Instead of being one of the many Big East teams fighting for a top-four seed and subsequent first-round bye in the conference tournament, St. John's finds itself as one of the few teams scratching and clawing just to get into the tournament at all.

It's getting a tad

stuffy in here

Speaking of all those teams logjamming at the top of the conference standings, nine squads are within reach of a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament next month.

Connecticut (11-0 in conference play) seems to have locked up one of those byes.

Louisville, Rutgers and Marquette are tied for second place with an 8-3 mark in Big East action, while Pittsburgh, South Florida and Notre Dame are one game behind with 7-4 conference records.

Two surprise teams also have a shot at a first-round bye. West Virginia and Seton Hall hold 7-5 conference marks and could slide into the fourth seed with a strong finish to the regular season.