St. John's coach Rick Pitino expects a great test from Alabama
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino smiles late in the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats at Carnesecca Arena on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
If St. John’s is going to continue its ascent in the ranks of the college basketball elite this season, it will begin with games such as Saturday’s noon matchup with No. 15 Alabama at the Garden.
St. John's began to pull out of a quarter-century slide into irrelevance the day it hired Rick Pitino as coach. It began its climb in that 20-win first season and followed with the Year Two quantum leap: 31 wins, a conference title, a No. 2 seeding in the NCAA Tournament and a tourney win.
Pitino was asked in the run-up to this campaign if the next step for St. John’s would be a deep run in March. Rather than the simple '‘yes’' that Red Storm fans would love to hear, he replied that NCAA Tournaments are unpredictable because one can’t anticipate the matchups.
But while his words ring true, his actions speak louder.
Of course the next step for the Red Storm is to play deeper into the NCAA Tournament. And to make sure they are prepared for those unpredictable matchups, he assembled a schedule laden with tough non-conference games. So Pitino is very much shooting for St. John’s to take that next step, and playing Alabama is where it begins.
Still ahead are two more games with SEC teams in No. 9 Kentucky and Ole Miss, two games against Big 12 foes in No. 16 Iowa State and Baylor in Las Vegas, and a third game in Vegas against a high major to be determined.
“We wanted to play a big-time schedule,” Pitino said Friday at the Garden before practice. “Most important to me is to see where what we need to work on, to improve, because sometimes [you get] fool's gold. You go out and you’re 9-1 and you're blowing teams out and you really don't know your strengths and weaknesses until you face great competition.
“So we're going to know — going into the Big East — where our weaknesses lie, what we have to improve on, what our strengths are,” he added.
The Red Storm’s frontcourt quartet of Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell, Bryce Hopkins and Ruben Prey may be the team’s biggest strength. Whether there are big backcourt questions could be answered against the Crimson Tide, who feature a breakneck playing tempo and a quartet of excellent guards in Labaron Philon Jr., Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Houston Mallette.
The Red Storm quartet of Oziyah Sellers, Ian Jackson, Joson Sanon and Dylan Darling — if Darling is able to play — will be tested. Darling said he was diagnosed with a right calf strain after Monday’s win over Quinnipiac and spent the entire week in a walking boot until Friday’s practice.
“The defensive matchups are really difficult for all of them because these guards are very good, some of the better guards in the nation,” Pitino said.
“It's going to be fun [and] we're not going to shy away from that challenge,” Darling said. “I can guarantee you all four of us, we're all looking forward to it. And you know, I think we got a pretty good backcourt too.”
This game is in no way the acid test for St. John’s. Pitino’s teams are always at their best in February and March. But it could be an important measuring stick. And it's certainly the kind of game St. John’s needs to be playing now to ready for a deep run into March.
Notes & quotes: Pitino said St. John’s could be getting a commitment from a high school recruit “in the next 36 hours,” presumably highly sought 6-6 swingman Adam Oumiddoch, now playing for Overtime Elite. He visited St. John’s the weekend of the Michigan scrimmage and is expected to attend the Alabama game. Last month Oumiddoch said St. John’s, Villanova, LSU, Oregon and Illinois were his five finalists.
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.
