Rick Pitino can't just flip a switch to create St. John's buzz
St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts in the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game against the Hofstra Pride at UBS Arena on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
There should have been a palpable buzz inside UBS Arena on Saturday afternoon as St. John’s and Hofstra played a taut and dramatic game. The Red Storm had a big second-half lead cut to one possession five times in the final four minutes and the crowd of 7,486 should have pulsed with energy. Instead, the place ran on low current.
When a scramble for a loose ball after a St. John’s miss went out of bounds with 28.8 seconds left and officials returned possession to the Red Storm, there was no noticeable relief or elation in the stands. And when Daniss Jenkins made the biggest shot of the day right after that — a pull-up jumper with 25 seconds remaining for a 79-74 lead — there was no roar of the crowd or even many people on their feet.
For Rick Pitino, the sleepy atmosphere said nothing about UBS Arena as a home court for St. John’s. In his eyes, it spoke much more about how far the Red Storm have fallen since they rode high on the shoulders of Lou Carnesecca.
On the March day he was introduced as St. John’s coach at a Madison Square Garden news conference, Pitino said he plans to return St. John’s to the upper echelon — and he put voice to it again on Saturday.
“I can sit here right now and tell you I’d like to change 100 things at St. John’s because nothing’s been changed for 100 years,” Pitino said. “Carnesecca [Arena] is a big-time home-court advantage, but . . . you can’t get to the restrooms and there’s no concessions, so it’s difficult.
“We didn’t sell out against Xavier [though it was announced as one]. We didn’t have anybody come at Barclays. We don’t have an abundance of fans. We’re not UConn or Villanova with fans. And there’s a reason: We lost the brand. Looie’s been gone a long time.
“So we’ve got to build the brand back and the people will come back. We’ve got to change the facilities. We’ve got to change everything. It takes time.”
Since Carnesecca retired in 1992, St. John’s has had a handful of truly memorable seasons, including the 1999 run to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, the 2000 capture of the Big East championship and the 2010-11 campaign in which it beat five nationally ranked teams. But until this season, it’s really been in a quarter-century decline.
Pitino has been many things at his various stops in college basketball. He’s been a tremendous recruiter. He’d been a highly skilled tactician. He’s been a great promoter. But one thing he hasn’t gotten a great deal of credit for is the way he’s been an agent of change wherever he’s gone.
Kentucky was seen as scandal-ridden before he arrived. Louisville became a national power again for the first time since Denny Crum was the coach. And even at Iona, where success became commonplace under former coach Tim Cluess, he turned the school into a destination for top players from all over the country.
Pitino envisions a vast array of things he wants to do to return the Red Storm to their Carnesecca-era popularity. He’s done some in the short time since he arrived. The team again will be playing most of its Big East games at the Garden; it has only two at Carnesecca Arena this season. He said on Saturday that next season, only Connecticut will play a Big East game on the St. John’s campus.
Asked if he was serious about playing the Huskies in the 5,600-seat gym, he replied “100% — I have my reasons.”
He no longer is going to play the weak non-conference schedules that became routine in the final years under Chris Mullin and during Mike Anderson’s tenure. He plans to bring Alabama in for a game at the Garden and play Duke at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
St. John’s again is becoming a destination for elite high school players. Freshman Simeon Wilcher was coveted by the blue-blood programs. Signee Jaiden Glover of The Patrick School (N.J.) is another.
Pitino doesn’t really find fault with UBS Arena or Barclays Center, but he isn’t happy with St. John’s station in college basketball and he wants to change that — which is a good thing. He wants it where it was under Carnesecca — or even better — but a quarter-century decline can’t be reversed overnight.
“I don’t have a magic bullet,” Pitino said. “It’s going to take time.”
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.
