So it turns out St. John’s fans aren’t even consoled by cursing the fickle finger of fate — though they might want to use a different finger to send a message to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
It turns out St. John’s wasn’t that close to the bubble, and even the Big East teams that went to bed Sunday night found themselves out of the bracket after a series of upsets that have roiled the sports world in recent days. Didn’t you realize that? It was Seton Hall. It turns out that the 2-8 losing streak that derailed their season in January and February was more important than the six-game winning streak they tried to salvage.
“I think it made it easier that we weren’t one of the first four,” Rick Pitino insisted.
The problem is, Pitino has spent much of his adult life coaching important games within the NCAA Tournament, and logically he would do so again. His immediate concern is the careers of the departing seniors, especially Jordan Dingle, Joel Soriano and Chris Ledlum, whose careers spanned 13 seasons and four schools, but who never made the NCAA Tournament. There was nothing to do. He wanted to drag St. John’s back there.
“You could see the disappointment in the players’ eyes,” Pitino said. “It was very.”
There’s a sense of disappointment throughout the loose confederation of New York basketball that focuses its energy and attention on St. John’s, who believe the Johnnys will be the team that brings them back to the dance for the first time in five years. It was his first tournament appearance in 24 years, and he believed that he might be able to bring him victory.
This is the back of Selection Sunday. CBS has camera crews on dozens of campuses, but they never approach locations that are eerily close to the bubble. And as upset after upset splashed around the weekend, there were bid thieves everywhere — when his son Richard’s New Mexico Lobos won the Mountain West, even within Pitino’s own family — St. John’s was on Zoom. I chose to make a call.
Maybe they didn’t know.
But Pitino has been at this for a long time. Maybe he didn’t know.But he Already knew.
“When Colorado lost, I thought [in the Pac-12 finals] And Karolina was beaten. [in the ACC] And FAU was beaten [in the American]” Pitino said. “That was very difficult to achieve.”
The Post has you covered with a printable NCAA bracket featuring the entire 68-team field for March Madness 2024.
It’s amazing how quickly narratives can change in sports. On Thursday, the Johnnys defeated Seton Hall, and even the sport’s strictest scorers considered them a contender. On Friday, they expressed themselves even more, pushing University to a 95-90 losing end. Rather, it seemed to brandish their credentials.
Then a funny thing happened. Within hours, a North Carolina State guard named Michael O’Connell beat a buzzer-beating prayer and capitalized on the Wolfpack’s miraculous run in the ACC. In the end, it turned out that Johnny’s may not have been directly affected by it, given that they ended up far away from the scene, but it was still a harsh reminder of how crazy the March was. .
And even if Pitino is too experienced and salty to need the lesson, it will still be a useful reminder: Win enough games in January and February, and the frustration in March And you can strengthen yourself from whims. Unless he loses to a team that went 8-24 in November (Michigan), he doesn’t need to give the committee any ammunition to use against him. Don’t let him sink to 12-for-14 in February. That way people won’t wonder about your conference.
(And just for the record, having three Big East teams in the Field of 68 is nonsense. Danny Hurley is right. It’s totally disrespectful.)
“Bitterness doesn’t help,” Pitino said. “I felt so bitter that I could endure it for the rest of my life.”
Instead, he does what he has always done as his default position and goes back to work. With the transfer portal opening on Monday and the staff needing to fill seven spots, Johnny understandably turned down the NIT. They have to start all over again. As has often happened over the past quarter century, the tournament will continue without St. John’s. Could you have done more damage if you had the chance?
perhaps. Maybe not. All we know for sure is that they will never have that chance.
