The moment Rick Pitino walked through the doors with St. John’s, he made a promise.
“We’re going back,” he said in March 2023, in Madison Square Garden, the building where the Red Storm had once ruled, but since then it had blurred in the background of the largest stage of college basketball.
A year later they are not back alone. They are at the top.
For the first time in 40 years, St. John’s is the outright champion of the regular season of Big East. A 27-4 record. A 18-2 mark in conference game. And now, for the first time since Walter Berry in 1986, the Red Storm has the Big East Player of the Year in RJ Luis Jr.
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Coach Rick Pitino was named until 2025 @BigeastMBB Coach of the Year 👏🏆
🗞️: https://t.co/iicauf3xssssss pic.twitter.com/emcwfc8mff
– St. John’s men’s basketball (@Stjohnbball) March 12, 2025
For Pitino it is again a milestone in a career full of them. On Wednesday he was named Big East Coach of the Year and marked his sixth conference coaching -more in four different competitions. The first coach who already led five different programs to a conference title in the regular season, he now adds an award to a CV that is unparalleled in Modern College Basketball.
And yet it can mean the most.
Managed to become a legacy
At the age of 72, the Hall of Famer did it again.
The name of Pitino is synonymous with success – national championships in Kentucky and Louisville, last four in Providence and Louisville, coaching tints in the NBA, a career that includes almost five decades.
But when he arrived in St. John’s, it wasn’t just a coaching job. It was a redemption story.
From growing up in Manhattan to filling Madison Square Garden, says St. John’s coach Rick Pitino @notthefakesvp What this NCAA tournament means to him and his team 🍿 pic.twitter.com/HG7KGLRWN8
– Sports Center (@sportscenter) March 11, 2025
‘Where else Rick Pitino could do what he does, except here [Madison Square] Garden with St. John’s? “Reverend Brian J. Shanley, the university chairman, said this month.
The Red Storm was chosen to finish fifth in the poll of Big East Pressean. They ended first.
They were a 20-win team that missed the NCAA tournament last year. This year they are in sixth place in the country and a top seed in the Big East Tournament.
“This is an answer to a prayer,” said Shanley. “This is what I had hoped when we hired Rick, that we would go back to where we are now, fighting for a national championship.”
Luis shines like St. John’s Soars
If Pitino is the architect, RJ Luis is Jr. His masterpiece.
The Junior Wing from Miami led the Red Storm in Scoring (18.1 ppg) and Rebound (7.1 rpg), in fourth and sixth place in the Big East in those categories respectively. During the last three games of the regular season, he had an average of 24.3 points and confirmed himself as the first Big East player of the year since Berry in 1986.
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥@Rjluisjr Is the 2025 @BigeastMBB Player of the year ⚡️🏆
🗞️: https://t.co/f0aeehsyed pic.twitter.com/gb3hnmatbs
– St. John’s men’s basketball (@Stjohnbball) March 12, 2025
What is the next step for St. John’s?
Pitino rebuilt this schedule from the ground and lost six of the top seven scorers of last season, but dominated the transfer portal.
He found Kadary Richmond, a do-it-all guard.
He landed Deivon Smith, a speed star who gives the red storm a lead in the transition.
He saw Zuby Ejiofor and Luis appear as breakout stars.
Now St. John’s leads the Big East in scoring (78.6 ppg), rebound (40.8 rpg) and defense (66.3 ppg allowed).
And for the first time since 2019 they go back to the NCAA tournament.
The only question about: how far can they go?
