Fans Are Furious St. John's Got Stuck As A No. 5 Seed
This is the most ridiculous result of the March Madness draw.
Of all the teams that have a right to be upset with their spot in the NCAA Tournament, the St. John's Red Storm have the strongest case.
Sure, you can argue that Auburn getting left out of March Madness is a snub, and Oklahoma staying at home is a bit odd. But Rick Pitino's squad sitting at the 5-line — in the toughest region in the bracket, no less, is a tragedy.
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - FEBRUARY 25: Ruben Prey #17, Oziyah Sellers #4, Bryce Hopkins #23 and Joson Sanon #3 of the St. John's Red Storm plays against the Connecticut Huskies during the second half of an NCAA men's basketball game at PeoplesBank Arena on February 25, 2026 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
Let's recap. St. John's finished the season at 28-6 after playing in the Big East. In the process, they claimed the regular season title, and then dog-walked the UConn Huskies in the Big East final by a score of 72-52.
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You do all of that — and get a five seed?
If the Red Storm are to get to the Final Four, that means that they will likely have to beat some combination of Kansas, Duke, UConn again, and/or Michigan State. That's the reward we are giving a 28-win, Big East champion team?
Give me a break. They could do it, but they shouldn't have to.
Plenty of fans saw this as a travesty for St. John's.
OutKick's resident sports gambling guru, Geoff Clark (a diehard St. John's fan), minced no words when expressing his frustration about the seeding.
"The constant and blatant disrespect of the Big East is absolute horses**. In what world should Nebraska and Virginia be seeded higher than the Johnnies? We didn't trail once in the Big East Tournament and beat the brakes off of 2-seed UConn. St. John's has the Big East Player of the Year and a two-time national championship winning head coach. What a disgrace," Clark said.
Couldn't agree more. This will be a tough path to Indianapolis, but anything is possible.
Let the Madness begin.