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Weekend Brunch: Why St. John’s is in position to win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000

It’s been over 23 years since St. John’s has won a game in the NCAA Tournament.

How long ago is that?

Jay Wright was still the head coach at Hofstra and Christian Bale had yet to be cast as Batman.

Not since Mike Jarvis and the Red Storm came back to beat Northern Arizona on March 16, 2000 has St. John’s advanced in March Madness. The Red Storm earned a two seed that year and were upset by Gonzaga in the Round of 32. The program has only heard its name called on Selection Sunday four times (2002, 2011, 2015, 2019) since.

So aside from the fact that the Red Storm now have a Hall-of-Fame coach in Rick Pitino, why is St. John’s ready to do something in 2024 that it hasn’t done in nearly two-and-a-half decades?

The roster. The roster. The roster.

In the last 30 days, St. John’s has drastically changed its potential ceiling for next season by adding Penn transfer Jordan Dingle and former North Carolina commit Simeon Wilcher, who committed to the Red Storm on Monday.

The 6-4 Wilcher was a consensus top-35 prospect while the 6-3 Dingle was college basketball’s second-leading scorer last season, averaging 23.4 points. These two players give Pitino two perimeter pieces who will be integral parts of St. John’s rotation, with Dingle in position to give the Red Storm a second All-Big East caliber player alongside Joel Soriano (15.2 points, 11.9 rebounds). The 6-11 Soriano tallied a double-double in 27 of his 33 games last season and should be even more effective next year as he’s surrounded by a better supporting cast.

In addition to Dingle and Wilcher, Daniss Jenkins (Iona), Glenn Taylor (Oregon State), and RJ Luis (UMass) all averaged double figures at their previous programs. That doesn’t include UConn transfer Naheim Alleyne, who played an integral role in the Huskies’ run to the 2023 national title, averaging 7.2 points in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Pitino also has high hopes for Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor, a 6-9 big man who could be in the mix for a starting spot at power forward.

What happens beyond that in St. John’s rotation is TBD, but those eight players give the Red Storm a nucleus that should be able to compete with most teams in college basketball.

Another thing to remember?

Pitino hasn’t always needed truly elite talent to win at the highest level.

In 2013 when he led Louisville to a national title, two of the Cardinals’ starters — Russ Smith and Luke Hancock — weren’t ranked coming out of high school. Hancock started his college career at George Mason before transferring to Louisville, where he became the MOP of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

St. John’s is currently ranked 25th in the ROTHSTEIN 45 and is fifth among Big East teams, which means a single digit seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament is within reach.

Creighton finished third in the Big East regular season standings last season and was a basket away from the Final Four as a six seed before falling to San Diego State in the Elite Eight.

UConn meanwhile, won the national title after finishing fourth in the conference, but the Huskies had a significant non-conference resume that featured neutral site wins over both Alabama and Iowa State.

On The Side

  • Kelvin Sampson’s new contract with Houston will pay him approximately $5 million dollars annually, a source told College Hoops Today. The Cougars are a combined 149-26 over the past five years under Sampson and other than Gonzaga are the only team to reach the Sweet 16 in the last four NCAA Tournaments.
  • USC’s Boogie Ellis feels like a lock to be Pac-12 Preseason Player of the Year. The 6-3 guard only scored eight points in the Trojans’ NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State last March, but averaged 24.2 points in the seven games prior.
  • Xavier’s Zach Freemantle (foot) has been cleared for non-contact work and is on track to be fully cleared for all basketball related activities at some point in July, Sean Miller told College Hoops Today this week. The 6-9 Freemantle averaged 15.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in 22 games last season prior to injury.
  • Tennessee will play NC State in a neutral site game in San Antonio on Dec. 16th, a source told College Hoops Today. The Vols are currently ranked 15th in the ROTHSTEIN 45.
  • VCU’s Ryan Odom said on this week’s College Hoops Today Podcast that the Atlantic 10’s lack of NCAA Tournament representation last season didn’t inhibit his decision to leave Utah State for his current post. The Rams were the only team from the Atlantic 10 to reach the NCAA Tournament in 2023 while four teams from the Mountain West heard their names called on Selection Sunday.

Leftovers