St. John’s received’t sneak up on anybody this 12 months.
Not after the Purple Storm surged final spring to their first outright Massive East regular-season and convention event championships in many years.
Not after they had been a No. 2 seed within the NCAA Event.
And undoubtedly not as they open this season at No. 5 within the AP ballot — the very best preseason rating in class historical past.
The keenness that surrounded final season’s earlier-than-expected program resurgence has been changed this 12 months by championship aspirations, and the gamers aren’t oblivious to it.
“We talk about it for sure,” Bryce Hopkins, a graduate switch from Windfall, mentioned throughout Thursday afternoon’s media day at Carnesecca Area. “That’s undoubtedly the objective, to make it to that final weekend of March, or April, and taking part in for the Ultimate 4 and a championship.
“That’s definitely our goal, but Coach [Rick Pitino] has done a great job of telling us to stay focused every day. Just take it one day at a time, one game at a time, and not look forward into the future.”
Navigating these expectations shall be paramount for a new-look St. John’s roster that brings again just one starter in senior ahead/middle Zuby Ejiofor however that imported a switch class that ESPN and 247Sports touted as the very best within the nation.
That group will face its first opponent on Saturday afternoon in an exhibition in opposition to unranked Towson at Carnesecca Area.
“I told them it’s the goal of every big-time program to be a Final Four contender, and if we’re going to get there, this is what we have to do defensively and offensively,” Pitino mentioned. “So, I really didn’t talk about us trying to be a Final Four program. I told them these are the things you have to do to be a Final Four contender.”
The gamers imagine the expertise is there.
Ejiofor was an All-Massive East first group choice and the convention’s Most Improved Participant final 12 months.
Hopkins, a 6-7 ahead, made the All-Massive East first group in 2022-23 with Windfall earlier than accidents derailed him the final two seasons.
They headline a frontcourt that additionally added senior ahead Dillon Mitchell, a defensive stopper who performed two seasons at Texas and final 12 months at Cincinnati.
Pitino addressed final 12 months’s 3-point deficiencies, too, by including Oziyah Sellers from Stanford, Joson Sanon from Arizona State, and Ian Jackson — a former five-star recruit out of Our Saviour Lutheran College within the Bronx — from UNC.
“The coaching staff did a really great job of who they recruited out of the portal,” Ejiofor mentioned. “Guys that are really competitive and come from backgrounds that are ready to win now. Especially [with] it being our last year for most of us … it’s Final Four, it’s national championship, or bust, as Coach Pitino says pretty often.”
In fact, expertise alone received’t be sufficient to win, particularly in a Massive East Convention during which No. 4 UConn is ranked even increased than St. John’s.
Pitino cites defensive communication as one space to enhance.
The Johnnies enter the season with no true level guard, as an alternative counting on Sellers — a wing by commerce — to deliver the ball up the courtroom and defend opposing flooring generals. Pitino believes St. John’s can thrive by taking part in position-less basketball, leaning on ball motion as soon as they cross halfcourt.
And the beginning lineup stays unsettled, with Sellers, Jackson, Sanon, Mitchell and Ejiofor anticipated to be the primary 5 on Saturday.
“We want to think long-term and [about the] Final Four, but at the end of the day, I feel like the best approach is focusing on each and every day,” Sellers mentioned. “Our game coming this Saturday, that’s our biggest focus.”
The Johnnies went 31-5 final 12 months, however the season resulted in upset trend when Tenth-seeded Arkansas ousted them within the second spherical of the NCAA Event.
This 12 months’s group has an opportunity to be even higher, even when the wins find yourself being fewer. St. John’s faces a loaded non-conference schedule that features video games in opposition to No. 15 Alabama at Madison Sq. Backyard, No. 16 Iowa State in Las Vegas and No. 9 Kentucky in Atlanta.
However St. John’s isn’t enthusiastic about these video games but. The common season opens with Quinnipiac on Nov. 3.
“We all have dreams of cutting down the nets at the end,” Pitino mentioned. “Every school in the country right now, or at least 30 or 40 of them, believe they can win a national championship. I think the way you posture your thoughts on that is to make sure you just take care of the next day. We don’t look too far ahead.”
