St. Joe’s is right where it’s supposed to be, two wins away from an Atlantic 10 title and a trip to the NCAAs

NEW YORK — Hop in the Hawk Hill Time Machine, a DeLorean with wings, and send yourself to the night of Friday, Dec. 29.

St. Joseph’s had just finished off a 41-point drubbing of Loyola-Maryland. The non-conference portion of the schedule was through, and the Hawks were flying high — 10 wins through 13 games. There were victories over then-nationally ranked Villanova, the first St. Joe’s road win in Radnor in nearly 20 years, in the inaugural Big 5 Classic, and St. Joe’s in front of a packed and loud Hagan Arena beat a Princeton team that was getting Top 25 votes and had played in last season’s Sweet 16. The Hawks were starting to get in the Top 25 discussion themselves.

Earlier, in November, they had followed a disastrous home loss to one of the worst teams in Division I, Texas A&M-Commerce, by taking Kentucky to overtime and nearly winning at the famed Rupp Arena, proving that this team, Billy Lange’s best in his five seasons, was indeed for real. There were dreams of an at-large path to the NCAA Tournament.

So when Lange and three of his players entered a Barclays Center interview room late Friday morning — the off day that breaks up the Atlantic 10 Tournament — one win away from reaching the conference’s championship game, they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

Right?

A Hawks fan enjoying postgame late-December drinks at the 54th Street Landmark Americana outside of Hagan Arena nods in approval.

You need not worry about the messy details. St. Joe’s plays Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday afternoon for a chance to reach Sunday, when the nets get snipped and the dance parties start. And that’s all that matters, right?

Hey, what did I miss?

OK, well, it hasn’t been what you expected. St. Joe’s started its A-10 schedule by losing its first three games, making comedy and rendering useless all of those at-large-bid conversations. Christ Essandoko, the redshirt freshman big man who seemed capable of helping the Hawks transform into something more, missed several games with a toe sprain. Lynn Greer III’s injured hip caused him to miss time. The Hawks had some shooting slumps, and even more defensive lapses, and lost four of their final seven games to finish 9-9 entering this week’s tournament, where they were the ninth seed.

» READ MORE: Erik Reynolds II has St. Joe’s very much alive in the Atlantic 10 Tournament

Xzayvier Brown played every bit like the freshman of the year, and Erik Reynolds II is the star who makes it all work when it’s going the way it’s supposed to go, but there were a lot of bumps. Cameron Brown is a fifth-year stabilizer, but besides Reynolds, almost every key contributor on the Hawks was essentially going through their first or second real season of college basketball.

Lange was quick to remind everyone of that during some of the bumps. The 10-3 record was a positive mark, a real sign that St. Joe’s was really turning the corner. Lange has been a basketball coach long enough to know that those things come with added expectations. He didn’t think his team was worthy, yet, of those projections. The Hawks and their high-powered offense were picked fifth in the conference, and even that, Lange said earlier this season, was a mark he wasn’t sure was right. Then the 10-3 start happened and the outside noise dialed up a bit.

“The seasons, they speak to you,” Lange said Friday. “You just go through them. As coaches and competitors, we don’t have the lens you guys have, or that fans have. I’m constantly reminding [the players] of that. It’s hard not to be a fan when you’re attached to everybody’s opinion 24 hours a day, but they don’t do what we do, they don’t get a chance to do what we do. They’re not there on Saturday morning after a Friday night loss. They’re not in the gym at 6 a.m. in June. And so however the season lays out, you just play it.”

And so they played it. They arrived here this week with a lot of work to do. St. Joe’s beat George Mason on Wednesday and then fought past top-seeded Richmond on Thursday in the first of four quarterfinals. Then the Hawks watched as No. 2 Loyola-Chicago, No. 3 Dayton, and No. 4 Massachusetts all went down.

» READ MORE: Here’s how the St. Joe’s Hawk prepares to flap its wings — all game, every game

Now, a St. Joe’s tournament victory, and the school’s first trip to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament since 2016, are in sight.

“Coach has told us that it doesn’t matter how we got here,” said Reynolds, whose 30 points Thursday flapped the Hawks to Saturday’s semifinal. “We’re here now. We just have to live in the moment, make the best of our moment, and just take advantage of the opportunity that we have.”

“I think if you could always play it out, you dream of having an undefeated season like St. Joe’s had 20 years ago,” Lange said. “But history would tell you that doesn’t happen often. And so however you get here, you get here, and we’re here.”

Right where they’re supposed to be.