The St. John’s men’s basketball team, preparing for its first season under Hall-of-Fame coach Rick Pitino, was chosen to finish fifth in their conference by the Big East Coaches’ Poll, the team announced ahead of its media day on Tuesday.
They did not receive a first-place vote from any of the 11 coaches and are predicted to slot in behind defending Big East champions Marquette (seven first-place votes), Creighton (four first-place votes), reigning National Champions UConn, and Villanova.
The Red Storm also received 47 votes in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll last week, ranking them 29th overall in the country.
With the introduction of Pitino, St. John’s has changed its tune as a perennial Big East disappointment by strengthening its roster with a number of transfers.
Since Pitino’s arrival, the Red Storm have come away with the NCAA’s Division I second-leading scorer last year in UPenn’s Jordan Dingle while also picking up UMass’ RJ Luis, Oregon State’s Glenn Taylor Jr., Zuby Ejiofor from Kansas, Nahiem Alleyne from UConn, and three transfers from Iona — Pitino’s former school.
“I had three prerequisites that I wanted in this recruiting class,” Pitino said on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. “I wanted great athletes who were great people. Then I wanted to make sure they had high goals for themselves so they could take their goals and turn them into something special. If you want to prosper the name on the back, play for the name on the front.
“That’s how you build a culture. When you play every single day in practice for the name on the front, the back will prosper. That is what we keep preaching to this team.”
The lone notable St. John’s holdover from last year’s roster, senior center Joel Soriano, was named to the Big East’s Preseason First Team on Tuesday. The 6-foot-11 talent put up a career year last season, averaging 15.2 points and 11.9 points per game, which ranked fourth in the nation. His 25 double-doubles were the second most in Division I. It earned him Big East Second Team honors last season and a semifinalist spot for the Kareem Abdul-Jabar Center of the Year award.
“I want to give credit to myself for all the hard work that I put in to get to where I am, but there is a lot of work to do,” Soriano said. “I don’t like looking at stuff like that because I haven’t done anything yet. It’s just a preseason poll, but I’m honored that people picked and voted for me. I’m just trying to get better than I was last year.”
