College basketball in New York City has been a complicated issue for decades. The city that lives and breathes the sport, but one school hasn’t truly captured the attention of the Five Boroughs in a long time.
NYU once made a Final Four in 1945. CCNY (that’s City College of New York) followed them two years later, then won the national title in 1950. But a series of point shaving scandals decimated both schools (even as NYU made the 1961 Final Four) to the point where they no longer compete at the D-I level.
The Bronx (Fordham), Brooklyn (LIU) and Staten Island (Wagner) all house D-I teams that have yet to find national success.
Then there’s St. John’s: the Catholic school in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Queens. The Red Storm have gone through ebbs and flows across their years. A Final Four in 1952 was followed by decades of mediocrity. They produced a Final Four team again in 1985 with legends like Walter Berry and Chris Mullin, but couldn’t stay dominant for long. Even a team considered possibly their greatest ever in 1999 was knocked off in the Elite Eight and they haven’t gone that far since.
But this year? There’s something special brewing off Union Turnpike. Even in a year defined by the loss of Lou Carnesecca, their legendary coach who passed just days before turning 100, the Red Storm cemented themselves as one of the best in the country. Led by an all-time great in Rick Pitino, this St. John’s team may have what it takes to finally get back to the promised land.
In Friday’s Big East Tournament semifinal against Marquette, the Johnnies dug themselves out of an early hole to secure a spot in the conference title game on Saturday night with a 79-63 win.
Rick Pitino and his St. John’s Red Storm secured a spot in the Big East Championship game
Zuby Ejiofor (24) dropped a shocking 33 points in a victory over Marquette
Who better to lead this team than a New Yorker? By the time he was announced as the Johnnies’ head coach in 2023, Rick Pitino had cemented himself as a coaching legend.
His resume speaks for itself. In his first major gig, he took Providence to the Final Four in what would be his final season. A job with the New York Knicks followed, but was unfruitful. Then came the vaunted Kentucky gig, where he won the 1996 national championship.
After an ill-fated tenure with the Boston Celtics, Pitino returned to the college game with Louisville. He led the Cardinals to three Final Fours and the 2013 national title. That title and a Final Four appearance in 2012 were stripped in a recruiting scandal that came at the same time as a sex scandal involving the coach.
After three years in Greece, he returned stateside to helm mid-major Iona. Now, he’s with the Red Storm. Last season, the Johnnies were robbed of an NCAA Tournament bid that they now will cake-walk into.
It’s a team built on defense, one of the most efficient units in the country. The Red Storm haven’t allowed more than 80 points since a game against Baylor back in November. Their total combined margin of defeat across four losses? Just seven points.
Sure, there are problems: offensively, they’re not good at 3-point shooting and are inefficient at the free-throw line. But their physicality when defending keeps them in the game and has got them to where they are now: a top-10 ranking for the first time in over two-and-a-half decades.
They have plenty of accolades. Pitino won conference Coach of the Year and was matched in honors by Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. and Most Improved Player in big man Zuby Ejiofor.
Pitino arrived in Queens last year and has already built a national powerhouse team
Pitino won Coach of the Year. His star forward, RJ Luis Jr, won Big East Player of the Year
Marquette guard Kam Jones (1) drives against Luis (12) in the first half of the game
After swatting aside Butler in their opener, St. John’s faced a Marquette team they played in their final regular season contest. In Milwaukee, the Johnnies forced overtime and an Ejiofor put-back at the buzzer sealed the win.
If the Golden Eagles hoped for any success tonight, it’d come from star Kam Jones. The first-team all-conference guard hadn’t had a single game all season below double-digits and put up 32 in that loss just days ago.
Jones and Marquette started hot – building a 24-9 lead that stunned the red-clad Johnnies faithful. A windmill layup from the Golden Eagles’ No. 1 proved his highlight worthiness. But when the half arrived, the Red Storm had managed to close the gap to a two point deficit.
Coming out of the break, things remained within a basket until about the 15:21 mark. A shot from the Red Storm’s Simeon Wilcher led to a miss on the other end, then a basket from the Johnnies’ Aaron Scott. That rolling ball led to an eventual ten-point lead.
Marquette tried clawing back around the middle of the second half, cutting the deficit to four before momentum began swinging back to St. John’s by the under-eight timeout.
A monster and-one dunk from Ejiofor led to the big man beating his chest as the specks of red throughout the building jumped out of their seats.
Marquette head coach Shaka Smart barks out orders to his team in the Big East semifinals
Luis had a bit of an off night, shooting 4-of-18 from the field, but picking up double-digits
It was Ejiofor’s heroics that saved the Red Storm and secured a spot in the championship game
The sequence that essentially iced the game centered around Ejiofor. He assisted a massive dunk to Luis, then raced up court to grab a dunk of his own.
A missed triple from Marquette’s David Joplin was hauled in, and once again the ball made its way to the big man for an emphatic slam that forced Marquette coach Shaka Smart to call timeout with the game at 70-56. By night’s end, Ejiofor would drop 33 points – the most at the Big East Tournament since UConn’s Kemba Walker in 2011.
Marquette never had a chance to recover. Shots missed, the Johnnies’ defense held out, and the Red Storm sealed their return to the title game.
Reflecting on the loss, Smart says that his team needs to do a better job at ‘controlling the controlables’ such as turnovers (17) and defense.
As for the Johnnies, guard Aaron Scott said that in the midst of the deficit, ‘we knew it was going to be a 40-minute game. We knew they were going to make their runs. We just keep telling each other, stay positive.’
Pitino put it another way: ‘Theres no panic in this stock market.’
