Five days ago, St. John’s seemingly punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, and even made an appearance on the back cover of the New York Post.
“Let’s Dance!” the headline read. “Johnnies pull away from [Seton] Hall to punch their NCAA ticket.”
In the sarcastic words of head coach Rick Pitino, “If the NY Post is not the Bible who am I going to believe?”
Unfortunately, it appears he knew something the rest of us didn’t.
On the Saturday before Selection Sunday, a cluster of teams likely to miss the tournament secured spots through conference championship upsets. Bid-stealers included NC State over UNC, Oregon over Colorado and Temple over FAU. As each hour passed, the Red Storm’s once-guaranteed spot became a long-shot.
Heading into Sunday, many bracketologists had St. John’s either in the ‘Last Four In’ or ‘First Four Out’ categories.
Despite landing 25th on KenPom and 32nd on NET, Pitino and company waited as teams like UVA (KenPom 69, NET 54) and previously mentioned FAU (KenPom 41, NET 39) heard their names called.
As bids ran dry, the Johnnies weren’t even mentioned. The committee felt they were much further from making the tournament than bracketologists expected.
St. John’s became the second highest-ranked NET team ever to be left out.
Almost more egregiously, conference rivals Providence and Seton Hall didn’t hear their names called either. The decisions from the selection committee left Big East coaches Dan Hurley, Greg McDermott and Kim English just as dumbfounded as fans. While disappointed, Pitino isn’t dwelling on the snub.
“I believe in getting better, not bitter,” the hall-of-famer announced. “Most of our time now needs to be spent recruiting because we’re going to have to bring in probably seven or eight new players. We’re not going to say we got screwed. None of that helps. Bitterness does not help. I’ve had enough bitterness in my life to last a lifetime.”
With their season now over, St. John’s shifts focus to the transfer portal.
As Daniss Jenkins, Jordan Dingle, Chris Ledlum, Nahiem Alleyne, Sean Conway and team captain Joel Soriano are all out of eligibility, six roster spots will open. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Cruz Davis plans to enter the transfer portal.
At the moment, there is confidence the majority of the Red Storm’s young core will remain. But if more generous Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals come along, this could easily change.
They do have three incoming freshmen joining the roster. New Jersey’s own four-star Jaiden Glover, three-star seven-footer Khaman Maker from Las Vegas and wildcard Lefteris Liotopoulous out of Greece will all look to contribute immediately.
St. John’s has already expressed interest in the following transfers, per Zach Braziller:
Drexel forward Amari Williams, Graduate
Miami guard Bensley Joseph, Senior
East Carolina forward Brandon Johnson, Senior
Hofstra forward Darlinstone Dunbar, Senior
Coastal Carolina guard Jacob Meyer, Sophomore
Of the current targets, the Red Storm have plenty of experience with Dunbar. The six-foot-eight North Carolina native played 40 minutes in a losing effort at St. John’s on Dec. 30, tallying 23 points on 10-17 shooting to go along with five rebounds.
After declining the same NIT invitation many of their Big East counterparts accepted, there is no doubt Pitino will be an early and active player in the portal with hopes of avoiding the same disrespect from the selection committee in 2025.
