St. John's basketball fans are eager for the 2023 basketball season to begin as this will be the first season for new head coach Rick Pitino. Pitino had an extremely successful career with Kentucky basketball and Louisville basketball before a scandal at Louisville derailed his career. Pitino then spent a few years coaching in other countries before coming back to the states and getting another college coaching job with Iona basketball, and now he's with St. John's.
Rick Pitino did a terrific job with the Gaels. In three years with the program, he took Iona to the NCAA Tournament twice, and the one year that they didn't make it, they still went 25-8 (17-3) and won their conference regular season championship. In all three years, the Gaels either won the conference regular season or won the conference tournament. Impressive stuff from Pitino.
Now, Pitino is ready to bring success to another program: St. John's basketball. He recently made his first big splash on the recruiting trail by earning a commitment from four-star SF Jaiden Glover.
Jaiden Glover is ranked as the #62 player in the 2024 recruiting class by 247 Sports. He is the #16 SF in the country and the #4 player in the state of New Jersey.
St. John's currently has the #31 2024 recruiting class in the country according to 247 Sports. Not too shabby considering Pitino has only been there for a few months. St. John's is in the Big East, one of the best conferences in college basketball, so it'll take some time for Pitino to turn the Big Storm program around.
Last year, St. John's went 18-15 (7-13) on the season and did not make the NCAA Tournament. It will be interesting to seen what Pitino can do in year one with the program.