Big East Basketball: Key storylines emerging early in 2023-24 season

5. Are St John’s who we thought they were?

St. John’s had come into the season with expectations beyond anything a Red Storm fan could have imagined had you told them the situation just a couple of years ago. In year one under Rick Pitino, this team is 4-2 with losses to Michigan and Dayton, but they also barely took down North Texas with a one-point victory.

While a 4-2 record is not a bad start to your season by any stretch of the imagination, the Johnnies have not looked like the team we expected to see after all of the off-season buzz they generated. They hit the easier part of their schedule now, but seeing how they performed against teams like Dayton and North Texas has fans worried about what is going to happen once Big East conference play rolls around.

Joel Soriano has been a huge bright spot for this team, but the shooting around him has not provided the help this team expected. They picked up a solid win over Utah, but they will need to do more to get back in terms of their preseason expectations.

St. John’s has the talent to be a lot better than they are currently playing, and Pitino will allow them to compete regardless, but it may be some tough sledding in year one for this new era of St. John’s basketball.