You better get Rick Pitino now while you can. You better get him now while you can because Hall of Fame coaches never rest. Success is a choice for Rick Pitino.
A storm is rising in Jamaica, Queens … a Red Storm, and there is no shame in losing to mighty UConn in the Big East Tournament semifinals at the Garden on Friday night.
One day, and one day not too far in the future, Pitino will have built an unshakeable, unbreakable culture and roster that will be the envy of every Big East school outside of Storrs, Conn.
Pitino plants a seed on the land he is given and before long a dream team grows. It happens wherever he puts down roots.
Only a month ago, St. John’s needed a miracle worker to earn an invite to the Dance. Pitino was the miracle worker, and there were the Red Storm on Friday night, infused with enough belief by their HOF coach to dare to dream on a magical, electric, fiery Big East Garden night straight out of Looie Carnesecca’s yesteryear.
He has restored pride to a program longing for it. UConn 95, St. John’s 90 doesn’t change that. UConn is the defending national champion and beast of the Big East and beyond. The St. John’s fan base could hold its head high trudging out of the Garden. The best is yet to come.
“Clearly an NCAA Tournament team,” Dan Hurley said.
It was last March at Pitino’s introductory Garden press conference when he said: “ St. John’s is one of the legendary names in college basketball. Has it fallen on tough times? Yes, it has, but now we’re ready to fall on great times. We’re ready to raise this roof up because St. John’s is going to be back. I guarantee that.”
The noise could have raised the Garden roof on a March Friday night when St. John’s needed to play The Perfect Game to shock UConn and the college basketball world.
It had the feel of a heavyweight fight. Pitino was booed by the pro-UConn crowd during the introductions. That kind of thing never happened in his old Kentucky home. “They’re the Kentucky of the East,” Pitino said. “They got the greatest fan base in basketball. We lost a lot of fans in the last 20 years,” Pitino said. “We gotta get them back. And I think efforts like tonight will get them stimulated and get them back.”
Technicals were charged to both coaches in the first half. Hurley earned his merely by pointing out to the official a man in a red blazer who had been yelling and cursing at him, and of course the man in the red blazer turned out to be a friend of Pitino’s.
What else would you expect in a lion’s den with a pair of lions stalking the sideline?
The Huskies abused Pitino’s transition defense and kept surging to 10-point leads and the undaunted Red Storm kept surging right back. UConn big. Man Donovan Clingan was saddled with foul trouble but St. John’s big man was not enough of a factor to help Daniss Jenkins and Jordan Dingle. Tristen Newton (25 points, nine assists) and Cam Spencer (20 points, nine assists) rose to the occasion. A good shot is not as good to UConn as a better shot.
“They’re just a machine,” Pitino said.
St. John’s’ deficit swelled to 14 in the second half, but the Red Storm wouldn’t flinch. Pitino does not let them flinch. “Tonight,” Jenkins said, “was a step forward for St. John’s.”
Hurley was coaching Secretariats, and Pitino’s Red Storm refused to stop riding their gallant race.
St. John’s had no fear. Under Pitino now, St. John’s no longer hopes to win. Under Pitino now, St. John’s expects to win. Even against defending national champs.
“I think they’re a dangerous team,” Pitino said. “I think when you score as much as we’re scoring, I think good things are going to happen.”
When The Post’s intrepid Zach Braziller asked Pitino if he might be nervous about Selection Sunday, Pitino joked: “Well your paper said we’re going to the Big Dance. So why would I have nerves? I mean, if the New York Post is not the Bible, who am I going to believe? … I was dancing all night last night.”
Hurley has built his program brick by relentless brick and look at UConn now. The transfer portal poses a clear and present danger to most coaches but Pitino has all the street cred any master recruiter needs. No, Larry Bird or Kevin McHale or Robert Parish or even Billy Donovan aren’t walking through that door, but whomever walks in should believe that he will walk out infinitely better.
“St. John’s can get there,” Pitino said. “It’s going to take a lot of work by a lot of people. It’s not just us. It’s not just the players. It’s going to take a lot of work to turn around St. John’s, in so many areas.”
You better get Rick Pitino now while you can.
When Pitino took Iona to the Dance in 2021 as a 15 seed, he said: “The best part about March Madness — I don’t care if you’re a 16 seed, or a one-two seed — but it’s the ability to dream,” Pitino said.
He has given St. John’s and the Red Storm fan base license to dream big.
