St. John’s will go dancing at the 2025 NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the West region, the collegiate governing body’s selection committee revealed on Sunday night.
Just one day after winning their first Big East Tournament since 2000, St. John’s has its highest seeding at an NCAA Tournament since that year.
It is a force to be reckoned with in a challenging portion of the bracket’s field of 68, which could potentially feature matchups against No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Texas Tech down the road. It must first get past No. 15 seed Omaha on Thursday in Providence, RI.
A big run at the Big Dance would help quench yet another program drought. St. John’s, which is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019 and its 30th overall appearance, has not made it past the second round since 1999 when it made a run to the Elite Eight.
Rick Pitino’s men have their sights firmly set on such a March Madness run. In just his second year at the Queens school, the legendary head coach has brought the Red Storm to heights not seen in decades.
After tying a program record with 27 regular-season wins (27-4 overall record) and setting a new program mark with an 18-2 conference record, the Johnnies cinched their first Big East regular-season title in 40 years. It also rose to No. 6 in the Associated Press national rankings — the school’s highest rank since December of 1991.
St. John’s cruised to its fourth-ever Big East Tournament title this weekend, ending with an 82-66 beatdown of Creighton. They enter the NCAA Tournament with a 30-4 record, just the third time the program has ever won that many games in a single season. They are currently on a nine-game win streak.
While Pitino won the Big East Coach of the Year award, star guard RJ Luis won the conference’s Player of the Year, and forward Zuby Ejiofor, who scored 33 points in the Big East semifinal against Marquette, was named its Most Improved Player.
