For Rick Pitino, it has never been about keeping track of records. “We really just do focus on getting better,” he asserts. If one were to look at the results the approach has yielded, St. John’s 2024-25 season couldn’t have been a better example. The 2x championship coach seems to have flooded a program marred with record droughts dating back decades. With wins stacked up, Pitino needed one final step to cement his case this season and that was to come at his home ground.

On the podcast College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein, the show host talked about St. John’s successful campaign this year. In dethroning the likes of UConn and Creighton, the Red Storm have recorded their most win since 1999-00 at 23. This January was also the first since 1985 that the program has gone through the month without a single loss. Rothstein is impressed with the path St. John’s has set itself on.

“Even though 5 of the top 8 seeds in Saturday’s Top 16 bracket reveal were from SEC, that to me was not the big story,” he begins. Considering St. John’s hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 2000, the team making it to the no.4 seed, instead was the big surprise. The NCAA men’s tournament committee bracket revealed on the 15th, included the Red Storm at 16th alongside Texas Tech, Kansas, and Michigan and that’s one big leap for a team that finished 18-15 in 2023.

“St. John’s has not won an outright Big East regular season title since the 84-85 season which is when Lou Carnesecca and Chris Mullin went to a final four,” Rothstein announces. Pitino is aware of it, but he isn’t rubbing it in anyone’s face. He believes Lou would instead be proud to see the position the team is at right now. And well, certainly so. The Red Storm’s deep NCAA run was only further solidified when they defeated Creighton at Madison Square Garden, a home-court blessing Rothstein seems to believe in.

The Red Storm, led by RJ Luis Jr. with 23 points and 14 rebounds, went on an 8-0 run in the final minutes that had 19,812 fans in MSG on their toes. The win pushed Pitino’s team 2 games ahead of Creighton, sealing their higher seeding chances. “So because of what we were informed on Saturday, because of the fact that St. John’s was slated as a 4 seed in the East Region, St. John’s is officially now playing for seeding each and every game that it plays,” the host concludes. 

If Rick Pitino manages to get past the first round of March Madness with his squad, he will break a twenty-five-year-old curse. And with how his recent triumphs have gone, he might just pull it off!

UConn on the horizon for Rick Pitino and the Red Storm

St. John’s has had a memorable run in the Big East so far. They beat the reigning champs at their own home, and have only lost two conference games thus far. The Red Storm’s victory over DePaul was resounding, as they won by a solid 24 points.

Pitino’s unit this season has been mighty impressive. RJ Luis Jr., the team’s big guard, has been shouldering a lot of the offensive burden in his junior year. Big man Zuby Ejiofor too has held it down both offensively and defensively.

They need to stay on high alert, however, as Dan Hurley’s team is coming back to avenge their previous loss. They are also coming off a hard-fought 66-59 victory over Villanova on Tuesday and Hurley’s squad is hungrier than ever. “We have to play with desperation, play angry,” freshman Liam McNeeley said after their loss against Seton Hall. “We have to take our feelings and emotions out on somebody and that is what we are going to do.” 

Rick Pitino will also look to extend their two-game winning streak after a win against the Bulldogs. This is going to be one high stakes showdown with predictions in favor of the Red Storm at 63.7%. But doesn’t look like the Alex Karaban-led team is going to let them have it easy.