For years and years, on the Eye On College Basketball Podcast and anywhere else I was asked about it, I consistently said I understood why Louisville moved on from Rick Pitino after one scandal too many on his watch — but what I never understood was the way the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach was more or less exiled from power-conference hoops for six seasons.
Why did that happen?
Various power-conference programs have long employed coaches with scandals in their pasts — and did so the entire time Pitino was coaching in Greece and at Iona following his resignation from Louisville in 2017. So whenever I was asked about a power-conference opening, and whether Pitino should be an option for it, if it made sense, I nodded in the affirmative.
Finally, St. John’s pulled the trigger.
And now, in Year 2 under Pitino, the Red Storm are 20-3 overall, 11-1 in the Big East and alone atop the conference standings following Tuesday night’s 70-64 victory over Marquette inside Madison Square Garden. Quickly becoming one of the biggest stories in the sport, St. John’s has won nine straight games, still hasn’t lost in 2025, is on pace to secure its first conference championship since 1992, and is No. 17 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
“This is a relentless group,” Pitino said before later adding, “I’m so damn proud of this team.”
Next up for the Red Storm is a good one — specifically a showdown with the back-to-back national champs, the UConn Huskies, on Friday inside a sold-out and sure-to-be-rowdy Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. For what it’s worth, over at EvanMiya.com, the game basically projects as a coin-flip with St. John’s having a 50.3% chance to win while UConn is sitting at 49.7%.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
10
Kentucky
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