St. John’s doesn’t open this season until Nov. 3 when it hosts Quinnipiac on campus. It won’t offer an invigorated fan base a first glimpse until Saturday’s exhibition game against Towson. And we won’t really have a gauge on what the Red Storm could become until the final preseason tune-up Oct. 25 against Michigan at the Garden.
But make no mistake: the college basketball season starts Monday.
The Associated Press national rankings will come out around noon, St. John’s is very likely going to be ranked in the Top 10 and that would be something that hasn’t happened since the 1991-92 season. In fact, the Red Storm hasn’t opened a season in the national rankings in more than a quarter century, 26 years to be exact.
And that is why this third season with Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino is the most anticipated season in recent memory – or maybe ever.
“I think ESPN had us five. AP [will] have us whatever the number may be,” Pitino said Wednesday at the Garden. “I don’t think it’s really important because you’re going to find out with Michigan and Alabama (on Nov. 8 at MSG) if we’re for real . . . We could do what St John’s has done in past years and open up 10-0 and you would have no clue whether we’re [great]. But you’re going to find out with Michigan and Alabama.”
Michigan, Alabama and Iowa State, who the Storm face in the second game of three at the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas, are also likely to have a number next to their name.
And plenty of Storm followers will be more than a little interested to see whether Big East archrival Connecticut is ahead or behind St. John’s. Creighton, too, could have a number.
The Red Storm has returned all-Big East first-teamer Zuby Ejiofor, a candidate to be selected Big East Preseason Player of the Year on Thursday, and it’s added the top-ranked class of transfers, according to 247sports.com.
The biggest flaw the Red Storm had last season – poor shooting – is no longer a problem. North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson, Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers, Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins and Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon are high-level shot-makers. And St. John’s seems very capable of holding the spotlight it earned while going 31-5 a year ago.
When St. John’s cracked the rankings in the third week of last season, it was its first appearance in the AP poll since it spent a week there in 2018-19 and when it remained in the rankings, it was the first time for that since 2014-15. They maxed out at No. 5 in the last poll before the NCAA Tournament where they got a No. 2 seed before falling to Arkansas in the Round of 32.
But the 2024-25 season was the first in a generation that St. John’s fans spent the weekends eager to see where the Storm stood on Monday afternoons.
St. John’s may be capable of being one of those programs that’s nationally ranked all season, something it last did 45 years ago. With a grueling schedule that includes Alabama, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Iowa State, Baylor and a third high major foe to be determined for its final game in Las Vegas, it’s as easy to envision them falling out as it is them ascending to No. 1.
At last, it’s finally time for the fun to begin.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.