St. John’s wins their first Big East Tournament Title for the first time since 2000, punching their ticket to the NCAA March Madness Tournament.
New York’s Team is back. I watched St. John’s win the Big East Regular Season live at Madison Square Garden on March 1st.
Then, on March 15, No. 1 St. John’s was named Big East Tournament Champions as they stormed through to trump No. 2 Creighton in an 82-66 victory. They have certainly lived up to being a second-half team the way they storm back in the last 20 minutes. Junior Guard RJ Luis Jr. (Big East Men’s Player of the Year), was named to Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Head Coach Rick Pitino and the Johnnies are stunning New York and all of college basketball. They have been selling out Madison Square Garden all season and have brought hope back to Queens. After the title win, I was on St. John’s campus in Jamaica, Queens, which had posters all around saying “St. John’s is back.”
St. John’s has gotten increasing media and NIL attention during their incredible season. Coach Pitino and his team were on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which has taken over the internet. On The Tonight Show, they created a song entitled “St. John’s Red Storm Sea Shanty” where they say “when the winning is done we’ll cut the nets and go,” which is exactly what they did after winning the title.
The Last Title
This year is the program’s fourth all-time Big East Tournament Title, with the last one coming 25 years ago. The last time the Johnnies won the title was in 2000 as they beat Villanova 75-70 under Coach Mike Jarvis. Prior to this, St. John’s won two titles in the 80s under their greatest head coach, Lou Carnesecca.
In 2000, St. John’s finished 25-8 (12-4 in Big East Play and ranked No. 9 in the Men’s AP Poll – which ranking they previously matched this season. Their home games were played at Alumni Hall which is now Carnesecca Arena on their Queens campus.
Madness is Here
On Selection Sunday, the Red Storm was named the No. 2 seed in the West region of the NCAA Tournament. After winning the Big East Tournament Title, they earned their first bid since the 2019 season. The Red Storm were also a No. 2 seed in 2000, which was the last time they won the Big East.
St. John’s has been nothing short of incredible and resilient this entire season. Especially considering this is the first time they have won the Big East title in 25 years. The Red Storm are expected to make a deep run in the tournament. Some are projecting St. John’s to go all the way to the Final Four, which they have not done since the 1984-85 season.
St. John’s has many New Yorkers hopping on the bandwagon to support them this March Madness. Being from New York myself, it has been very exciting to watch this team all season. It is just the beginning for the Johnnies and I cannot wait to see how far they go in this year's tournament.
Edited by Taylor N. Hall
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