Rick Pitino Returns St. John's Back To Big East Royalty With A Team Good Enough To Win NCAA Tournament

As the confetti rained down from the rafters of Madison Square Garden, St. John's celebrated its first Big East tournament championship in 25 years, with Rick Pitino once again turning another program around in just two years. 

There were questions about whether Pitino could get the job done with the Red Storm, but they were quickly diminished as the rowdy crowd in New York City watched its team win not only the regular season championship, but also the Big East tournament. 

The 72-year-old head coach has won everywhere he's been in college basketball, whether that was Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona. Now, you can add St. John's to that list of schools that in which the ‘Godfather’ of college basketball has had success. 

"They work really hard. They wanna win badly for their city, for their school and everybody that's involved in St. John's basketball," Rick Pitino said postgame. 

He's won national championships at Louisville and Kentucky. And now he has an opportunity to make a run in the NCAA Tournament with a St. John's team that stormed onto the scene during the 2024-2025 season, cutting down the nets in the most famous arena in America. 

Sure, there will be a lot of folks inside the sport of college basketball that will have a hard time getting past the scandals that marred him, which led to his departure from Louisville. But you cannot deny the fact that Rick Pitino is one of the best coaches to ever walk the sidelines in this sport. 

Asked postgame how he planned on celebrating the Big East tournament title, Pitino said he was ready for a bottle of Jameson's. 

It Took Rick Pitino Only Two Seasons To Get St. John's Back

In this ever-changing world of college athletics, it took Pitino only two seasons to get St. John's back into Big East glory, with a team that could wreak havoc on opposing teams over the next few weeks of March Madness. Pitino has now won two Big East tournaments with two different teams, which goes to show you how good this man is at his job. 

It wasn't going to be easy with the Red Storm, but Pitino found a way to put together a championship-winning roster in this NIL era, with the transfer portal playing a part in this success. Zuby Ejiofor, RJ Luis and Kadary Richmond made this Johnnies basketball team a threat, helping lead it to 30 wins, and the Johnnies aren't done yet. 

There should be zero questions about whether St. John's will be a No.2 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The team took care of that tonight at MSG. 

The only question remaining is how far this team can go from here. 

While this has already been one of the wildest stories in the sport this season, can you imagine if Rick Pitino is coaching this St. John's team in San Antonio on the first weekend of April? 

As he spoke with Gus Johnson following the game tonight, Pitino was asked what this meant to him after winning at every level. 

"Well, I saved the best for last."