St. John's full of anticipation, excitement ahead of first AP preseason poll
Rick Pitino speaks during a St. John's scrimmage at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Ed Quinn
St. John’s doesn’t open the season until Nov. 3, when it will host Quinnipiac on campus. It won’t offer an invigorated fan base a first glimpse until Saturday’s exhibition game against Towson. And we won’t really have a gauge on what the Red Storm could become until the final preseason tuneup Oct. 25 against Michigan at the Garden.
But make no mistake: The college basketball season starts Monday.
When The Associated Press national rankings come out at about noon, St. John’s very likely will be ranked in the top 10, and that would be something that hasn’t happened since the 1991-92 season. In fact, the Red Storm haven’t opened a season in the national rankings in more than a quarter-century, 26 years to be exact.
And that is why this third season with Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is St. John’s most anticipated in recent memory — maybe ever.
“I think ESPN had us five. AP [will] have us whatever the number may be,” Pitino said Wednesday at the Garden. “I don’t think it’s really important because you’re going to find out with Michigan and Alabama [on Nov. 8 at the Garden] if we’re for real . . . We could do what St John’s has done in past years and open up 10-0 and you would have no clue whether we’re [great]. But you’re going to find out with Michigan and Alabama.”
Michigan, Alabama and Iowa State, whom the Red Storm will face in the second game of three at the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas, also are likely to have a number next to their name.
Plenty of Red Storm followers will be more than a little interested to see if Big East archrival Connecticut is ahead of or behind St. John’s. Creighton, too, could have a number.
The Red Storm have returned all-Big East first-teamer Zuby Ejiofor, a candidate to be selected Big East Preseason Player of the Year on Thursday, and added the top-ranked class of transfers, according to 247sports.com.
The biggest flaw the Red Storm had last season — poor shooting — no longer is a problem. North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson, Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers, Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins and Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon are high-level shot-makers. St. John’s seems very capable of holding the spotlight it earned while going 31-5 a year ago.
When St. John’s cracked the rankings in the third week of last season, it was its first appearance in the AP poll since it spent a week there in 2018-19, and when it remained in the rankings, it was the first time for that since 2014-15. The Red Storm maxed out at No. 5 in the last poll before the NCAA Tournament, in which they got a No. 2 seed before falling to Arkansas in the Round of 32.
Last season was the first in a generation in which St. John’s fans spent the weekends eager to see where the team would stand on Monday afternoons.
St. John’s may be capable of being one of those programs that is nationally ranked all season, something it last did 45 years ago. With a grueling schedule that includes Alabama, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Iowa State, Baylor and a third high major foe to be determined for its final game in Las Vegas, it’s as easy to envision them falling out as it is ascending to No. 1.
At last, it’s finally time for the fun to begin.
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.
