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The day was March 21, 2023.
St. John’s was coming off another disappointing season, another year in which the Red Storm fell well short of expectations.
It was Rick Pitino’s first day as the Johnnies’ new head coach, and he didn’t bother asking this win-starved fan base for patience.
He made promises inside Madison Square Garden’s Chase Square that afternoon that St. John’s would soon be a player in college basketball again.
“It’s not going to be difficult,” the Hall of Fame coach said then. “There is no difference between St. John’s to Connecticut, St. John’s to Marquette, St. John’s to Xavier. St. John’s is one of the legendary names in college basketball. Has it fallen on tough times? Yes, it has, but now we’re ready to fall on great times.
“Raise this roof up, because St. John’s is going to be back, I guarantee that.”
Less than two years later, the Johnnies do indeed feel back.
On Monday, they rose to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, their highest spot since finishing the 1999-2000 season at No. 9.
They sit all alone atop the Big East, winners of eight straight games and 14 of their past 15.
And this week — arguably the biggest week this program has seen in 25 years — they can cement their status as a threat in March.
First, No. 11 Marquette visits the Garden on Tuesday, the Johnnies’ first regular-season home game as a top 15 team against another one since Jan. 30, 1999.
Three days later, St. John’s (19-3, 10-1) travels to Storrs, Conn., to take on No. 19 Connecticut, the back-to-back national champions.
“Last year was the first time I played against a ranked team in my college career. So now going into tomorrow as a ranked team, it’s pretty surreal, pretty exciting,” junior wing RJ Luis said Monday. “It’s a really cool experience, especially to do it at the Garden and I can’t wait.
“It’s a big, big week for St. John’s.”
Over the next four days, the Red Storm can answer their critics by knocking off two teams most experts expected to challenge one another for the regular-season crown.
Of the top four teams in the Big East, St. John’s has faced only Creighton once, and lost that game by a single point.
Its other defeats, in the Bahamas to Baylor and Georgia, came by a combined four points.
The lone item St. John’s résumé lacks is a high-end win. That can change this week.
It obviously won’t be easy.
Marquette is one of 12 teams ranked in the top 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Senior guard Kam Jones is the front-runner for Big East Player of the Year.
The Golden Eagles are tenacious on the perimeter, the nation’s leaders in turnover margin at plus-7.5.
Marquette forced Connecticut into 25 turnovers in a loss on Saturday night.
“You can’t drive into closed areas,” Pitino said. “That’s something RJ has to be careful of, Kadary [Richmond] has to be careful of, [Simeon Wilcher] has to be careful of. You can’t drive into a small area where you’re congested. We have to be very careful with that.”
There is a narrative that St. John’s hasn’t beaten anyone of significance, that these two games will be revealing.
Pitino chafed at that notion.
The three defeats could have gone either way.
The Baylor loss at the buzzer was the result of a clock error.
Of the Johnnies’ 19 wins, 14 have come by double figures. St. John’s swept Xavier, which beat Marquette and Connecticut.
“I don’t think there’s a game that’s been played that we haven’t been for real,” Pitino said. “Nobody’s blown us out. We’ve fought everybody tooth and nail. You see how hard they play. We’ve been on television every single night. So I don’t think there’s any mystery with us. I think [our detractors] know our frailties, they know our strengths.”
Pitino’s first season didn’t quite go according to plan, St. John’s falling painfully short of the NCAA Tournament after a strong finish.
This year has been more along the lines of expectations, the Johnnies taking a big step in his second campaign like most of Pitino’s teams historically have.
They can take another major step forward over the next four days.
“We all came in with one mindset, and that is to obviously play hard and to win games, win big and go dancing in March,” Luis said. “We’re just a very gritty, hard-working team. The whole season so far we’ve been showing a lot of fight.”
