Rick Pitino’s third St. John’s team is pointed towards a Final Four run (Photos by Louriann Mardo-Zayat)
By KEVIN McNAMARA
So you think Rick Pitino took the Big East by storm last season? He was just getting started.
Now in his third season in Queens, Pitino has St. John’s pointed toward the top of the college basketball world.
For the first time since the 1991-92 season, the Johnnies will start the year ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll.
In Monday’s preseason poll, Rick Pitino’s program was slotted at No. 5, its highest ranking ever going into a season. That includes the Chris Mullin/Mark Jackson/Walter Berry/Bill Wennington Final Four team of 1985. That Red Storm team was ranked preseason No. 7.
Pitino’s team is one of three Big East teams ranked, behind No. 4 Connecticut and ahead of No. 23 Creighton. This Red Storm team will own an almost tally different look than the one a year ago that steamrolled through the Big East (18-2), won the Big East Tournament and finished 31-5 with a loss to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Pitino welcomes back only one key performer from that team but it’s All-Big East big man Zuby Ejiofor (14.7 ppg, 8.1 reb.) and that’s a great place to start. The bulk of the team is new, and that’s nothing new in college hoops these days. In fact, it’s normal.
Armed with a hefty Name/Image/Likeness slush fund and newly-created school revenue-share funds, Pitino hit the transfer market aggressively and landed one of the best classes of newcomers in the sport. Leading that group is former Providence All-Big East pick Bryce Hopkins who appears fully recovered from his knee and leg injuries that limited him to three Friar games last season. Guards Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Joson Sanon (Arizona St.), Oziyah Sellers (Stanford) and Dillon Darling (Idaho St.), plus sky-walking forward Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati) make up the meat of the roster.
Ruben Prey and Zuby Ejiofor return for Rick Pitino’s top defense
The Big East coaches select that conference’s standings at Media Day next week but don’t listen to them. They’ll probably (maybe?) go with Connecticut, just like the AP voters who have Dan Hurley’s Huskies 4th and SJU 5th. It should be the other way around as the Storm owns much more experience than the very talented, but youthful in spots, Huskies.
Anyways, I’m happy to return as a voter in the Associated Press poll. I’ve been doing this for at least 30 years, but who’s counting!
Here is my preseason poll, with the official AP result in parenthesis.
1. Florida (3): The Gators return a loaded frontcourt from a National Title team, led by forwards Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh. The addition of guards Boogie Fland (Arkansas) and Xaivian Lee (Princeton) are the key to more championship success.
2. Houston (2) : The Cougars will knock on the door for another crack at coach Kelvin Sampson’s elusive national crown. The trio of Milos Uzan, Joseph Tugler and Emanuel Sharp is joined by two high school studs in Chris Cenac and Isaiah Hartwell.
3. St. John’s (5): Zuby Ejiofor will get the preseason Big East Player of the Year love but I’ll go with a healthy Bryce Hopkins as the Red Storm’s top dog.
4. Purdue (1): Any team with Big Ten star guard Braden Smith and big forward Trey Kaufman-Renn will be very good.
5. UConn (4): The Huskies have Old Dog Alex Karaban leading talented vets Tarris Reed, Jr., Solo Ball and others but need point guard additions Silas Demary and Malachi Smith to be good.
6. Michigan (7): The Wolverines crushed in the portal, convincing NBA first rounder Yaxel Lendenborg (UAB) to stay in college for a bag. Morez Johnson (Illinois) and guard Elliot Cadeau (North Carolina) are major additions as well.
7. Duke (6): The latest Super frosh in Durham is Cameron Boozer, and his brother Cayden is no slouch. The return of Isaiah Evans, Caleb Foster and Maliq Brown is big and watch for Italian import Dame Sarr.
8. Alabama (15): Voters are sleeping on the Tide. Why? Nate Oats is a top five coach with a top five backcourt in Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon.
9. BYU (8): If you don’t know A.J. Dybantsa is from Brockton where the heck have you been? The future lottery (top 5) pick took a bag to play for the Mormons for one season and he has some serious help with guard Richie Saunders set to explode nationally.
10. Arkansas (14): John Calipari has serious talent, and some vets like D.J. Wagner, Trevon Brazile, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond. Oh, and he’s adding two 6-10 studs in Nick Pringle (South Carolina) and Malique Ewin (Fla. State).
11. Tennessee (18): Rick Barnes has an elite frosh in Nate Ament, top transfers in Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Maryland) and Amaree Abram (La. Tech) and plenty of defense once again.
12. Iowa State (16): Tamin Lipsey is an All-American candidate and big men Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson are top-notch talents.
13. Kentucky (9): The Wildcats will contend in the loaded SEC with wing Otega Oweh leading the way. Mark Pope grabbed conference cast-aways Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama) and Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) for leading roles.
14. Louisville (11): The buzz around frosh Mikel Brown is loud and I saw enough of shooter Ryan Conwell at Xavier to know he’s legit. Cards can push Duke for ACC title.
15. UCLA (12): Would love to see Mick Cronin win the Big Ten, if only because he hates to even be in the Big Ten! Adding Donovan Dent from New Mexico to go with three returning starters could get it done.
16. Auburn (20): Steven Pearl takes over for his recently retired Dad, Bruce. He’ll lean on guard Tahaad Pettiford, a SEC Player of the Year candidate.
17. Arizona (13): This group could be a top 10 team thanks to returning star guard Jaden Bradley, tough forward Tobe Awaka, 7-1 Motiejus Krivas and five-star frosh Koa Peat.
18. Creighton (23): Pencil Greg McDermott into your Top 20 and be happy. Watch for a breakout from shooting forward Jackson McAndrew, Jasen Green and the duo of Iowa transfers Josh Dix and Owen Freeman.
Arkansas guard D.J. Wagner will help lead the Razorbacks once again
19. Texas Tech (10): The loss of Darrion Williams (to N.C. State) is big but J.T. Toppin is a returning All-American.
20. Kansas (19): Probably a dumb move ranking a Bill Self team this low, especially with the buzz around incoming frosh Darryn Peterson. Love addition of St. Bonny guard Melvin Council.
21. Illinois (17): If the Illini are as good as advertised, my typist pals in the Big Ten are screwed! Stars are brothers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic, plus Ben Humrichous and newcomer David Mirkovic.
22. Gonzaga (21): Big men Graham Ike and Braden Huff are tough and watch for Colgate (!) transfer Breaden Smith to run the show.
23. San Diego St. (NR): The Aztecs should rule in the last season of Mountain West – 5 teams leave for the ‘new’ PAC-12 next year.
24. North Carolina (25): Freshman Caleb Wilson is supposed to be the real deal. He better be because the natives are getting restless in Chapel Hill.
25. Texas (NR): This is a vote to back new coach Sean Miller, who does not miss. Big East transfer Dailyn Swain (Xavier) and Simeon Wilcher (SJU) should be keys.
