Big East basketball is usually deep and usually has multiple National Championship contenders. The 2025-2026 season was not kind to the Big East. Teams that are normally powerhouses and single-digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament had rough years. Creighton and Marquette were the two most surprising bad teams this season. One team that lived up to the lofty expectations put on it was the St. John’s Red Storm. The Red Storm have now made it two straight years of winning both the Big East Regular Season and Tournament Championships.
Rick Pitino was hired to lead the Red Storm program, and this was exactly the vision that the fans in Jamaica, NY had in mind. Pitino has turned the Red Storm into one of the best programs in the country. St. John’s has now made it back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. It is the 32nd appearance for the Red Storm in the NCAA Tournament. The 5 seed will make it to the second weekend, and here is why.
Offensive Rebounding
Do you expect anything less from a Rick Pitino team? Coach Pitino has always had extremely athletic teams, and it is a necessity for the way he likes to play. He expects a lot out of his teams. He needs them to play physical, athletic defense, and, to go along with that, his teams are all about getting into the paint and scoring physical baskets.
The Red Storm fit that description, as evidenced by their ability to get the ball to multiple players who can drive to the rim to finish. St. John’s isn’t a great three-point shooting team, but they don’t have to be when every player crashes the glass hard to get offensive rebounds. The offensive rebounds go to the three big men: Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Dillon Mitchell. Each of those players averages over 2 offensive rebounds per game. The extra possessions are back-breaking for defenses, and in the tournament, it's the little things that matter. Â
Teams that want to beat the Red Storm have to figure out a way to keep them off the offensive glass. There is no one that St. John’s will face in the first two rounds of the tournament who is going to keep them off the offensive glass, or at least not enough for it to make an impactful difference.
Shots at the rim
The game of basketball has turned into Live by the three, die by the three. Everyone knows that philosophy still has to include being able to get shots in the paint when threes are not falling. Coach Pitino's teams don’t usually shoot threes very well, which was actually a downfall of the St. John’s team last year. This year, the Red Storm is a better-shooting team, but their bread and butter is still getting to the rim and finishing at the basket.
It doesn’t hurt that St. John’s has a ton of athletic players who can win most of their one-on-one matchups to get to the rim. The offensive rebounding has been discussed, and the Red Storm guards are all great passers, which allows the ball to move, which moves the defense, and allows back cuts and open shots at the rim. St. John’s still shoots barely over 50% from inside the three-point line; it should be higher, but the Red Storm are winning games by preventing shots at the rim.
This is a huge key to the Red Storm defense and one of the main reasons that big man Zuby Ejiofor is an irreplaceable piece for St. John’s. The Big East Player of the Year averages just under 3 blocks per game. As a team, the Red Storm averages just under 5 blocks per game, but they are extremely physical and athletic on the defensive end. This allows the Red Storm to block 12.4% of shots or steal the ball on 11% of possessions. Teams can’t score on you if they can’t get to the rim.
Three Point Shooting
Much was discussed about the Red Storm's early exit from the tournament last season. Some say it was due to turmoil in the clubhouse, which caused chemistry problems, and that may be, but I am not equipped to discuss it. What I do know is the Red Storm couldn’t shoot from outside last year and were a team that thrived on the same things as this year, like offensive rebounding and defense, but the offense was clunky and not good enough.
Coach Pitino has fixed that and gone out and gotten guards who can shoot the ball, while still being able to play defense and distribute. Those last two things are non-negotiables for coach Pitino to play for. Ian Jackson, Oziyah Sellers, and Joson Sanon are all players who shoot well above 30% from deep. Â
St. John’s and their ability to stretch the floor make them a legitimate threat to get hot and make the Final Four. The ability of their bigs to get offensive rebounds will allow for kick-out threes, which are the easiest to hit because the shooters are usually wide open. The Red Storm have weapons everywhere now, which prevents defenses from playing drop coverage and protecting the paint like they did last season. The Red Storm have been hitting a lot of shots down the stretch, making them very dangerous as a team to make a deep run.