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St. John's head basketball coach Rick Pitino is not a big believer in the Preseason AP Top 25 poll. As the blue-blood Kansas Jayhawks topped the No. 1 spot in Monday's rankings, with Alabama and UConn following at No. 2 and No. 3, St. John's did not crack the list. Pitino swiftly called the preseason rankings “a joke,” per Adam Zagoria on X, formerly Twitter.
“There's no way you can rank these teams because of the portal,” Pitino said Tuesday…”It's almost like Joe Lunardi's picks [at this point].”
St. John's finished 20-13 last season, and missed the NCAA Tournament. Despite a Big East tournament win over Seton Hall and taking eventual national champion UConn down to the wire, the Red Flash didn't earn a bid.
Pitino clearly views the transfer portal as overrated, rather than how teams establish their chemistry over the course of a season. St. John's received 91 votes from a field of sportswriters and broadcasters from across the country, which puts them just outside the rankings to begin the year.
Rick Pitino and 2024 transfers for St. John's basketball
While Pitino's bad feelings toward the transfer portal are static, St. John's put together a solid 2024 transfer class. They added a pair of quality guards to their backcourt in Seton Hall's Kadary Richmond and Utah's Deivon Smith. And the frontcourt got some needed depth in forward Aaron Scott from North Texas, and 6-foot-11 center Vincent Iwuchukwu from USC.
Although the college basketball pundits provide their thoughts on who they're ranking the highest, Pitino and St. John's could have the last laugh. It's better to have a goal to work towards early in such an arduous season of hoops. There were tons of changes to the rankings throughout last year, so don't be surprised if it the Pitino's squad creeps the door open.
The Red Flash begin the 2024-25 season against No. 25 Rutgers on October 17.
