Rick Pitino and Red Storm set bar at winning a national championship

When New York City-born and Long Island-raised Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino was hired in March 2023 to lead the St. John's Red Storm men's basketball program, the expectation of their avid fan base was he would raise the program back to prominence.

- By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

Big East men's basketball coaches and commissioner Val Ackerman pose at the conference's annual media day on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

((Derrel Johnson photo))

Last season, in just his second at the helm, Pitino guided the 31-5 Red Storm to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, the Big East Conference regular season title, and first conference tournament championship in 25 years. St. John's suffered a disappointing 75-66 second round loss to Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament but reloaded and enters the 2025-2026 campaign ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason men's basketball poll and picked to repeat as regular season champions in the Big East men's coaches poll.

Returning for the Red Storm is senior forward Zuby Ejiofor, who is the Big East Preseason Player of the Year and one of the cap-

tains of the team.