It felt like St. John’s season was over. He trailed Seton Hall by 19 points in the first half and fell below .500 in three league games.
Manager Rick Pitino made national news after calling out several players by name during his postgame press conference and pointing out their athletic shortcomings. The team suffered their eighth loss in their last 10 games, and their promising season came to nothing.
Ultimately, this was a turning point in the Hall of Fame coach’s first season in Queens.
Everything has been going well since then. St. John’s has won four straight games, three of which have been by at least 14 points. The NCAA Tournament bubble has tilted decisively in their favor, with many now predicting the Johnnys will appear at the dance for the first time since 2019. Ivy League transfers Jordan Dingle and Chris Ledrum have found their niche. Defense power has improved significantly. The attack is humming.
Pitino, who apologized for the remark three days after a narrow win over Big East punching bag Georgetown, said it was a motivational ploy and a way to pump up the spirit. The players have supported the move, saying it’s out of love.
It’s up to you to believe that Pitino was criticizing them to get more out of them. At the time, it felt like the coach was taking out his frustrations on his anger after the team collapsed again in the second half. That being said, he is known for finding unique ways to motivate himself.
There’s a reason behind everything Pitino says, associate coach Steve Masiello told me before the season. “I’m not for everyone,” Pitino said at his inaugural press conference last March. He’s so tough on his team that “the players are starting to trust each other to make each other better,” Bulls coach and former Pitino player and assistant coach Billy Donovan told the Post in October. told. Star point guard Danis Jenkins said something similar, recently telling the Post’s Steve Serby that he suggested his teammates prove him wrong after the comments were made.
“Basically that’s all Coach P did. He went out and challenged us,” said Jenkins, the only rotation player who played under Pitino at Iona College last year.
The truth is, it doesn’t matter if this is Pitino playing 3D chess or if the coach is telling everyone how he really feels. He apologized and the players responded to him. The most important thing for a coach has always been: can he get the most out of his team?
That’s certainly the case with Pitino these days. He fixed the second half issues that plagued the Red Storm. He lost eight of his 10 games during a period in which he led at halftime in five of those losses. Both Dingle and Ledrum have performed as expected, with Dingle providing the consistent perimeter scorer they needed. (He’s averaging 17 points during his current winning streak), and Ledrum has been the glue of the forwards, scoring more efficiently despite playing through an injured right ankle. Suddenly he’s blocking shots at a high level (two per game in the past four tournaments). Over the past three games, St. John’s has recorded 67 assists to 15 turnovers, giving him an impressive 4.5-to-1 ratio.
In the NET ranking, it rose from 51st to 34th. The offense currently ranks 29th in the country in efficiency, the defense has climbed to 36th, and they have two of the best offensive teams in the Big East, No. 10 Creighton and Butler. He averaged 62.5 points in two impressive wins.
St. John’s hasn’t played this well all year. This is the third complete game in a row, but Jenkins, the team’s best player, hasn’t been at his best in the past two games.
“I know you guys don’t believe me, but everything I said was just an attempt to wake them up, and they woke up in a big way,” Butler said. Pitino said after the win. “We knew if our defense didn’t improve, we were done. All we were doing was fouling and we weren’t stopping people, so we thought we were done.”
“As Al McGuire said, once you get to a certain point, [in your career] And if you’re afraid of bad mouthing players, it’s time to retire, and he did. ”
Well, not only is it not over yet, St. John’s season feels full of potential. Big East earned him a bye in his tournament in fifth place, qualifying him for the NCAA tournament main draw for the first time since 2015. Maybe he can run with the dance and help his school win his first tournament in 24 years.
It all started with that press conference, and it was the moment when the season, which had once stalled, started to get back on track. Intentional or not, motivated or not, that criticism was the catalyst for a turnaround.
