Rick Pitino: This season is ‘the most unenjoyable experience’ I’ve had coaching
It’s fair to say that St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino has seen better times as head coach. After its 68-62 loss to Seton Hall Sunday evening, Pitino ripped into his team’s recent performances and the 2023-24 season as a whole.
“This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime,” Pitino said after Sunday’s loss, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ryan Young. “We recruited the antithesis of the way I coach. It’s a good group, they try hard, but they’re just not very tough. … It’s not the job. You could be at Missouri and recruit slow players. Believe me, it’s not St. John’s.”
Pitino was hired in late March after three seasons at Iona where he went 64-22 with two regular-season MAAC championships, two MAAC Tournament championships and two NCAA Tournament bids.
St. John’s has lost three straight, five of its last six and eight of its last 10 after beginning Big East play 4-1. Nine of its last 10 losses have come to Quad 1 opponents–the lone exception was Sunday night (Seton Hall’s a Quad 2 opponent). Since Jan. 6, when they climbed to No. 31 in NET, the Red Storm has fallen 20 spots. They dropped six spots as a result of Sunday’s loss–their second Q2 loss of the season.
They are presumably on the outside looking in for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. They are currently No. 51 in NET–the fifth-best mark in the NCAA–and No. 42 in KenPom’s rankings.
“Do we have sh***y facilities? Yes, we do,” Pitino said. “But that’s not the reason we’re losing. Having sh***y facilities has nothing to do with guarding.”
According to KenPom, in conference play, St. John’s has the Big East’s seventh-best adjusted defense (which accounts for strength of opponent), though its opponents’ free-throw rate (37.2) ranks dead last while its defensive rebound percentage (67.8) is the second-worst to only lowly DePaul (66.9).
Perhaps lighting a fire under your team’s you-know-what is exactly what they need as March approaches. But St John’s doesn’t have much time to turn it around.
It finishes the regular season with three of their final five against Quad 3 or 4 opponents, though sandwiched in-between are Creighton and Butler, both Quad 1 opponents who have top-40 offenses. They are 2-9 in Quad 1 games this season.
Pitino’s comments Sunday night speak volumes. He has a half-century worth of coaching experience, including two NBA stints as an NBA head coach with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics (which went horribly). He’s also been involved in numerous scandals with the NCAA–more than you count on one hand–over his coaching career, including a pay-for-play scandal at Lousiville in 2017 that ultimately led to his firing. But this was the straw that broke the camel’s back? This was the worst experience, not any others? OK.
How will St. John’s close the 2023-24 regular season? Let us know in the comments!
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