St. John's ranked fifth in AP Top 25 preseason men's basketball poll
Ian Jackson during a St. John's mens basketball practice in August. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The hype around the coming St. John’s basketball season now is quantifiable.
The Associated Press released its preseason men’s basketball poll Monday and the Red Storm will open the season ranked No. 5 in the nation. It’s the highest ranking in an AP preseason poll in program history.
St. John’s last opened a season in the national rankings 26 years ago, when it was No. 18 going into the 1999-2000 season, and hasn’t started a season ranked in the Top 10 since it debuted at No. 10 for the 1991-92 season.
The No. 5 preseason ranking bests the No. 7 it pulled at the start of the 1984-85 season. St. John’s reached the Final Four behind the play of Chris Mullin and Walter Berry that season.
The last time St. John’s opened a season nationally ranked, that squad won the Big East Tournament and an NCAA Tournament game, accomplishments the Red Storm did not match until last season.
The top four teams, in order, are Purdue, Houston, defending national champion Florida and Big East rival Connecticut. The Huskies got two first-place votes.
The unveiling of the poll also frames how challenging St. John’s schedule is.
The final tune-up for the regular season is Oct. 25 against No. 7 Michigan at the Garden. After its season-opening contest against Quinnipiac on Nov. 3, its second game is against No. 15 Alabama at the Garden five days later.
The Red Storm also have at least two more non-conference games against ranked opponents. They will play No. 16 Iowa State in its second of three games at the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas in late November and will face No. 9 Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 20 in Atlanta.
Creighton, which is No. 23, was the only other Big East team to receive any votes in the poll.
St. John’s will meet UConn at the Garden on Feb. 6 and in Hartford on Feb. 25. It will play Creighton in Omaha on Jan. 10 and host the Bluejays at the Garden on Feb. 21.
Last season — when St. John’s went 31-5, earned a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seeding and lost in the Round of 32 — it appeared in the AP national rankings in 12 of the 21 weeks it was published. The Red Storm climbed as high as No. 5 just before the start of the NCAA Tournament. Its final ranking for the season was No. 11.
Coach Rick Pitino was named National Co-Coach of the Year with Auburn’s Bruce Pearl by the AP and also received the Henry Iba Award as National Coach of the Year from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.
AP TOP 25 PRESEASON POLL
Rank, Team (first-place votes)
1. Purdue (35)
2. Houston (16)
3. Florida (8)
4. UConn (2)
5. St. John's
6. Duke
7. Michigan
8. BYU
9. Kentucky
10. Texas Tech
11. Louisville
12. UCLA
13. Arizona
14. Arkansas
15. Alabama
16. Iowa State
17. Illinois
18. Tennessee
19. Kansas
20. Auburn
21. Gonzaga
22. Michigan State
23. Creighton
24. Wisconsin
25. North Carolina
Others receiving votes: NC State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego St. 74, Texas 35, Ohio St. 23, Kansas St 13, Mississippi 11, Southern Cal 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise St. 4, Mississippi St. 3, VCU 2, Virginia 2, Saint Mary's 2, Indiana 1, Oklahoma 1, Baylor 1.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
