Again in February, after St. John’s completed off a season sweep of two-time defending NCAA champion UConn, Huskies head coach Dan Hurley supplied his evaluation of the resurgent Pink Storm.
“They’ve got a championship-level defense,” Hurley mentioned. “I think they have championship-level offensive rebounding. How their season goes from here is going to, in large part, come down to being able to make enough shots.”
That proved to be prophetic.
Second-seeded St. John’s shot simply 28% from the sector and went 2-of-22 on 3-point makes an attempt in Saturday’s 75-66 loss to Tenth-seeded Arkansas within the NCAA Event’s second spherical.
The elimination in Windfall, R.I., introduced a sudden finish to a storybook season through which St. John’s gained 31 video games, its first outright Large East regular-season championship since 1985 and its first Large East Event title since 2000.
“I hate to see them go out this way,” head coach Rick Pitino mentioned. “We thought we were championship-driven in our minds, but I have been disappointed before with this. You hate to see us play like that.”
However the reality St. John’s was even ready to be upset within the Spherical of 32 spoke volumes about how far this system has come.
When St. John’s employed Pitino two years in the past, the Johnnies had made solely three NCAA Tournaments since 2002 and none since 2019. They’d not gained a sport on the Large Dance since 2000.
Pitino introduced with him a Corridor of Fame pedigree, having led Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013) to nationwide championships. He vowed at his introductory press convention that St. John’s was “going to be back.”
The turnaround began final 12 months, when St. John’s completed 20-13 — its first 20-win season in 5 years — however got here up wanting the NCAA Event.
Nobody anticipated what would come subsequent.
Of their preseason ballot, the Large East coaches picked St. John’s to complete fifth within the convention.
However the Johnnies shortly shattered these expectations. Behind the nation’s most-efficient protection and sixth-best rebounding unit, the Pink Storm rolled to a 27-4 report within the common season, together with 18-2 in convention play.
Fueling St. John’s have been breakout seasons by RJ Luis Jr., who was named Large East Participant of the Yr and the convention event’s Most Excellent Participant, and Zuby Ejiofor, who was the convention’s Most Improved Participant.
Offseason transfers Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott turned out to be superb enhances, bringing grittiness and defensive prowess.
St. John’s captivated the town, going 18-0 in dwelling video games and 12-0 at Madison Sq. Backyard. Every of the Pink Storm’s remaining three regular-season video games at MSG have been sellouts. A raucous Backyard crowd remained decidedly of their favor as St. John’s gained the Large East Event there this month.
The Johnnies entered March Insanity at No. 5 within the AP Ballot — their highest rating since January of 1991, when Lou Carnesecca, who died in November at 99, was nonetheless the top coach.
St. John’s discovered methods to win regardless of its flaws.
“When you see a team shoot 38% from the field, 33% from three and 58.6% from the free-throw line, you’re gonna lose by double digits,” Pitino mentioned after a Feb. 16 victory over Creighton through which St. John’s put up these percentages. “But every single night, this team wins.”
The Pink Storm’s 3-point share, which dropped to 30.1% after Saturday’s loss, ranked 341st within the nation.
They recurrently fell behind in first halves, solely to put on down opponents with their bodily fashion of play and rally to wins after halftime. That was the case in wins in opposition to Marquette and Creighton within the convention event and in opposition to Fifteenth-seeded Omaha within the NCAA Event’s first spherical.
However these points loomed massive in Saturday’s loss to John Calipari-led Arkansas.
St. John’s missed 23 of its first 28 pictures and trailed, 22-14, lower than 12 minutes into the sport.
“We’ve been down before, so we didn’t think too much of it,” Ejiofor mentioned. “We were just telling each other that we’re just going to do whatever it takes to win, start on the defensive end, just get stops. Then we took the lead and … I don’t know what happened, but we ended up losing the lead again and we couldn’t really recover from that point.”
Arkansas’ dimension proved problematic. The Razorbacks blocked seven pictures and disrupted many extra, resulting in 17 missed lay-ups by St. John’s.
“We haven’t faced that type of length and athleticism this year,” Pitino mentioned. “That’s not the reason we lost the game. We lost the game because we did not move the basketball enough and that led to us shooting a very low percentage.”
It was an particularly tough afternoon for Luis, who completed with 9 factors on 3-of-17 taking pictures, together with 0-of-3 on 3-point makes an attempt, in half-hour.
Luis spent the sport’s remaining 4:56 on the bench. Pressed about that call, Pitino replied, “You know he was 3-for-17. You know he was 0-for-3, so you’re answering your own (question). I’m not going to knock one of my players.”
The nine-point loss was the most important of the season for St. John’s. Its different 4 losses got here by a mixed seven factors.
“It feels like we didn’t do anything, really, after today,” Luis mentioned. “It just sucks to lose the way we lost and the way we went out.”
St. John’s is about to enter subsequent season with extra continuity than it had in its first two beneath Pitino. Luis and Ejiofor are each eligible to return, as is fellow starter Simeon Wilcher. Freshmen Vince Iwuchukwu, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Ruben Prey all determine to tackle greater roles.
However Richmond, a Brooklyn native who made the All-Large East second group, is out of NCAA eligibility, as are the speedy Smith and the hard-nosed Scott. These three have been important elements of the Pink Storm’s win-at-all-costs id.
“We had a special group of guys from the coaching staff down to the players and the managers, and I’m thankful and appreciative they allowed me to come here and be the person I am,” Richmond mentioned. “I will always be thankful to them for that.”
Requested how a lot this 31-5 season may also help St. John’s transferring ahead, Pitino mentioned, “I hope it does a lot.”
Pitino has spoken about the good thing about being a basketball-first faculty because the NCAA’s NIL guidelines transition to a revenue-sharing mannequin, by which most Division I packages will prioritize soccer.
However with the injuries nonetheless contemporary from this season’s earlier-than-expected ending, Pitino and his gamers took time to acknowledge a few of the good.
“We put New York on our back,” Smith mentioned. “We made a lot of people proud. We still had an unforgettable season, made a lot of history.”
