By Tate Hutchinson
On the morning of the BIG EAST Media Day, coaches of the conference’s eleven teams gathered to vote for how they predicted the final standings would shake out. Leading the pack was defending champion UConn, with the underdog St. John’s University in a distant fifth. Now as the calendar has turned to March, St. John’s has completely flipped their measly expectations on their head; having wrapped up a 30-4 record on a 9-game win streak, New York’s team victoriously cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2000.
In the years since the turn of the millennium, the Johnnies have often failed to match the standards one would expect from New York City’s premier college basketball team. With two NCAA tournament victories in a mere four appearances since 2000, the Red Storm needed to make a big change to return to relevance amidst NYC’s other thriving basketball teams. And in 2023, the team brought in esteemed, championship-winning head coach Rick Pitino with the hope of building an attractive program, bringing in top talent from NYC and beyond.
With the legendary coach now at the helm, Johnnies faithful had reason to believe that this would be the start of a resurgence for the team. And after a 2023-24 season that saw them improve from 8th in the conference to a top-five finish, the program made some wise moves that put them in position to contend for the BIG EAST crown once again.
With the departures of Senior trio Daniss Jenkins (NBA – Pistons), Jordan Dingle, and Joel Soriano, the team trusted in the developing talent of versatile wing RJ Luis Jr. and energetic forward Zuby Ejiofor. Luis absolutely shined, nearly doubling his statistical output and winning BIG EAST Player of the Year. Not to be overshadowed, the 6-foot-9 Ejiofor transformed from a 4.3 point-per-game backup to the nation’s top offensive rebounder, taking home BIG EAST Most Improved Player honors. To round out their new trio, Kadary Richmond, a standout at Seton Hall just across the Hudson, transferred to his hometown of NYC and put up averages of 12.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game.
With a nearly spotless start outside of a couple of losses to Baylor and Georgia in the Bahamas, the Johnnies entered conference play with a strong 8-2 record. However, with teams such as UConn, Marquette, Creighton, and Xavier also contending in the conference, St. John’s would need to step up a level to seize control of the BIG EAST. And step up they did.
The Red Storm would go on to rattle off a dominant 18-2 record against their conference rivals, with their only two losses coming by a total of three points. As an exclamation point, in their final regular season matchup, they managed to take down a top-20 Marquette team in a double-OT road thriller. Entering the BIG EAST tournament as the top seed, they would still need a strong showing to cement themselves as a contender for a national title.
In BIG EAST tradition, the conference hosts their tournament in “basketball’s Mecca,” Madison Square Garden. St. John’s came out and proved they deserved the shine of The Garden, thrilling their home city crowd with dominant wins over Butler and Marquette. In the latter, Zuby Ejiofor put up a heroic showing, with 33 points on 11-of-13 shooting along with an absurd 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.
In the title matchup vs. defensive stud Ryan Kalkbrenner and an excellent Creighton squad, New York’s energy was unmatched. Even Spike Lee joined in on the bandwagon, decked out all in red. And this time, it was Luis Jr. and Richmond who led the way to a comeback victory. They ignited the crowd with a pair of double-doubles, Luis’s coming with a 27-point second-half explosion to secure St. John’s a 30-4 record and a BIG EAST title to go along with it.
As the confetti fell, Coach Pitino made sure to recognize what their win means for his hometown of New York. “For all the St. John’s fans, this is for you! St. John’s is New York’s team!” It is clear that the city rallying behind the Johnnies has played a role in the team’s success; the Red Storm were an incredible 20-0 at home, undefeated in the city they call home.
In an interview with The Harlem Times prior to the season, star guard and NYC native Kadary Richmond told us “winning in New York is a big thing, you’re gonna be recognized by your peers and even people on the street who don’t know you…so I feel like representing New York is a big deal.” And with New York basketball on the rise, high expectations have kept the city buzzing.
This year’s St. John’s team is a perfect representation of New York pride, led by NYC natives and impressively fueled by the city’s energy. And it seems like the confidence was there from the start, as Richmond told us in October that “I feel like it’s gonna be a special year…there’s gonna be a lot of winning going on here.”
And their run is not over yet, with the NCAA Tournament beginning this week. With their impressive season, they have earned the #2 seed in the West Region of the bracket. In their first matchup, they will face the 15-seeded Omaha Mavericks in Providence this Thursday at 9:45pm. Basketball fans throughout NYC will surely be thrilled to see how far their run goes throughout the tournament, as this rising St. John’s team has a golden opportunity to bring home another championship to this great city.