March Madness: St. John's men's basketball gets send-off at university before heading to Washington
Standing outside of the old brownish and beige-bricked gym named for one of the program’s legendary figures, St. John’s president Father Brian Shanley was asked a rather simple question.
How far can the Red Storm go in the NCAA Tournament?
His response was 14 words. Fourteen unequivocal words.
“I think we could win the whole thing,” Shanley told Newsday on Wednesday afternoon, a few minutes before the team’s on-campus send-off pep rally. “I think we could beat anybody.”
It’s not Joe Namath guaranteeing the Jets would beat the Colts in Super Bowl III. It’s not Mark Messier guaranteeing that the Rangers would beat the Devils in Game 6 of the NHL’s 1994 Eastern Conference Final.
Still there is a bit of a through line between Namath in 1969 and Messier in 1994 and Shanley in 2025: Fervent belief in their teams.
“I’m not shocked about this,” Shanley said of St. John’s (30-6), which has won eight in a row. “I knew once we got into the tournament last year and won the Big East (regular and postseason championships) that we could do it again. For me, the question this year was: How far can we go? Now that we’ve made the Sweet 16, we’ve done better than last year’s team and I just expect a Rick Pitino team to be better every year.”
The Red Storm have been better in 2025-26 than they were in 2024-25. Last year’s iteration reached the round of 32 before losing to Arkansas. This year’s team is in the round of 16 for the first time since 1999-2000.
“We’re very confident,” Pitino said to a throng of students, staff, administrators, alumni, and fans who gathered at Carnesecca Plaza to see the team off. “(It is a) special group of guys and we’re super excited to get to (Washington D.C.).”
“Duke, I didn’t expect we’d be playing them,” Shanley said. “It’s really so cool to have them because they’re a really good team and I think everybody is going to be rooting for us against them. We’re the underdog now.”
The Blue Devils (34-2) have won 13 straight games, and are led by star freshman forward Cam Boozer. The 6’9, 250-pound power forward is averaging a double-double this season with 22.4 points and 10.3 rebounds.
But, as Dillon Mitchell pointed out, Duke is not a one-man band.
Swingman Isaiah Evans’ 15.0 points per game average is second on the team behind Boozer. Center Patrick Ngongba II is third with 10.5 points per game, and his 6.0 rebounds are second-most on the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils have a margin of victory of 18.9 points this season. They are averaging 81.9 points per game while limiting opponents to 63.1 points. And they are outrebounding teams by 11 boards per game (40.4 against 29.4).
In short: Duke is a machine. One that wins college basketball games as it simultaneously mass produces future NBA players.
“They’re a really good team. The best team in the country right now,” Mitchell said. “They’re good. Every position on the court they got really good players.”
And yet, as the Red Storm walked out of Carnesecca Arena and onto Carnesecca Plaza, past a throng outstretched hands toward a waiting bus waiting to take them to Westchester County airport for the 80-minute flight to the nation’s capital, this appeared to be a loose, confident group.
“We want to win a national championship,” Mitchell said. “We understand that St. John’s hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 1999 or whatever year it was. But I mean we’re trying to win a national championship. For us it’s either (win a) national championship or who really cares? We want to win a national championship.”
To that end, the team practiced before boarding the bus, with Pitino noting “the second unit has just killed the first unit two days in a row, so we’re very excited about that.”
Mitchell neither confirmed nor denied Pitino’s assessment of the practices. Instead the senior forward said that the sessions were the same as they have been since day one.
“This time of year we don’t slow it down,” Mitchell said. “We make sure we’re in shape. That’s (Pitino’s) biggest thing: making sure we’re in shape this time of year. So practice is the same as if we’re in June.”
