St. John’s is the sixth different program that Rick Pitino has guided to an NCAA tournament – so Basketball Hall of Famer knows better than getting stuck and looking ahead.
“I will only focus on Omaha,” said Pitino Sunday. “I’ve lost in the first round before, so I will only focus on it.”
With a matchup against either Kansas or Arkansas on the horizon prioritizes No. 2 Frö St. John’s first operations in its western regional opener against No. 15 Omaha on Thursday evening in Providence, Ri
The Red Storm (30-4) reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 and blew past every expectation on the road. During Pitino’s second years at work in New York, he guided the program to Big East regular season and tournament titles.
Many of his players experience their first NCAA tournament, but they know to follow the example set by the man who has gone to seven last four and won two national championships.
“He is like another monster (in March), only his intensity level. It is as it raises,” said this year’s Big East Player RJ Luis Jr. Per Newsday. “Coach P already looked at the statistics to see what he could come up with. He is really just a master of his craft and he will do the best he can with his abilities to put us able to succeed.”
St. John’s rides in a winning line on nine games thanks to his dominant driving through the Big East tournament, where it beat Butler, Marquette and Creighton (the latter two participants in the NCAA tournament) with an average of 17.7 points.
Luis leads the team with 18.4 points per match and forward Zuby Ejiofor sets up 14.6 points and a team -leading 8.0 returns per competition. Ejiofor exploded for a career pile of 33 points against Marquette in Semis.
While the team’s 3-point shooting is a weakness (30.4 percent), it has up to 65.9 points per match and is first ranked in Division I I adjusted defensive efficiency by Kenpom.com.
Omaha (22-12) went on a six-match run to end the season and beat St. Thomas 85-75 in the Summit League Championship game. It is Maverick’s first NCAA tournament.
Coach Chris Crutchfield, an Omaha Grade, enjoys the opportunity for his team to meet Pitino’s squad.
“It’s a little scary, to be honest with you, but our guys will be on the challenge,” Crutchfield told CBS Sports.
This year’s top player Marquel Sutton claimed with 19.1 points and 8.0 returns per match this season. The foreman is not far away from opening a career pile of 36 points and 12 returns against South Dakota on February 22. Food Ejiofor in St. John’s Frontcourt will be another challenge.
JJ White (13.7 PPG, 43.9 percent 3-point shooting) and Tony Osburn (12.2 PPG, 40.4 percent) will present a test for Luis and Kadary Richmond, a large defensive guard leading the red storm with 2.1 steals and 5.4 assists per match to go with 12.7 p.
“The league knows (Omaha) the best,” said Pitino, “so we’ll look at how the league defended them because they know them so well. We’ll see what they do.”
Pitino trained Providence from 1985-87 and led the releases to a final Four. It can be a nice environment for a second round of matchup with Arkansas and Pitino’s long -standing rival, colleague Hall of Famer John Calipari.
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