Rick Pitino - Head Coach at St John’s University!!!

I am wearing a red fleece ”jacket” that has “St.John’s Red Storm“ on the left chest. I stopped at a branch of my bank in my old neighborhood around noon and I was approached by another customer and he bank manager who engaged me with conversation about St. John’s and Rick Pitino and how excited they were (both were probably around my age). I then made it to the teller who was probably in her 20’s and she too starting talking to me about the same thing.

The buzz is keeps on going.
 
SJU85 said:
I am wearing a red fleece ”jacket” that has “St.John’s Red Storm“ on the left chest. I stopped at a branch of my bank in my old neighborhood around noon and I was approached by another customer and he bank manager who engaged me with conversation about St. John’s and Rick Pitino and how excited they were (both were probably around my age). I then made it to the teller who was probably in her 20’s and she too starting talking to me about the same thing.

The buzz is keeps on going.
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I am more eagerly awaiting the response from the handful of younger fans who will ask you what is a bank teller.
 
SJU85 said:
I am wearing a red fleece ”jacket” that has “St.John’s Red Storm“ on the left chest. I stopped at a branch of my bank in my old neighborhood around noon and I was approached by another customer and he bank manager who engaged me with conversation about St. John’s and Rick Pitino and how excited they were (both were probably around my age). I then made it to the teller who was probably in her 20’s and she too starting talking to me about the same thing.

The buzz is keeps on going.
Click to expand...
on saturday i was having brunch at a restaurant by my apartment. i was already in my sju gear getting ready for the game. the waiter, who's waited on me countless times, and has never struck a convo with me, lit up upon seeing my sweater and started talking me up about the johnnies.

he's not a sju grad but said he's been paying attention since pitino got hired.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
bagel shop Saturday morning: Ralph: "hey Bob, wasn't it great getting Pitino, looking forward to a great season", I hardly know the guy and he didn't go to St. John's 9although maybe his father-in-law did.) out in NJ no less.
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At my local Walmart in Surprise AZ, wearing my St John's t-shirt a few days ago, produce guy stops me to talk about our past and future with Pitino. Borrowing from ZZ TOP: It's Bad, It's Nationwide!
 
paultzman said:
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This was the game that turned around St. John's 92-93 season when we were supposed to be putrid after Malik, Werdann and Louie left.

David Cain almost singlehandedly ripped the vaunted Pitino press to shreds and we went toe-to-toe with UK to the very end.

It's one of the few times when a loss felt like a victory.

We go on to share the BE regular season title and advance to the second round where we lost to an Arkansas team that had the foundation of its national championship squad.
 
MainMan said:
This was the game that turned around St. John's 92-93 season when we were supposed to be putrid after Malik, Werdann and Louie left.

David Cain almost singlehandedly ripped the vaunted Pitino press to shreds and we went toe-to-toe with UK to the very end.

It's one of the few times when a loss felt like a victory.

We go on to share the BE regular season title and advance to the second round where we lost to an Arkansas team that had the foundation of its national championship squad.
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Pretty sure Mash was leading the nation in ppg at that point and we dropped him more than a few spots down the list.

I also remember Rutgers trying to press Kentucky in the same tournament and it was probably the quickest I've ever seen a press broken. 😁
 
Rick's memory of our St. John's history and tradition should not begin and end with 1985/Chris & Luigi C.

Well before then we were perennially good to great; and even after that we had some good to great moments (Malik; Ron-Ron, etc.).

Admittedly the CMA/Mullin years were bad and Lavin and Jarvis only had moments. Mahoney/FF were pit stops and of course the Norm years were bad. So I get why the bringing back St. John's to where it belongs is a nice tag line!

I'm older than a lot of people on here, so maybe I take a tiny bit of umbrage of this return to the glory of the '85 Final Four team as a mantra.

As I type this I am thinking College BB and the Big Dance going to 64 teams in the 80's is the modern frame of reference for CBB history so maybe it makes sense.
 
MainMan said:
This was the game that turned around St. John's 92-93 season when we were supposed to be putrid after Malik, Werdann and Louie left.

David Cain almost singlehandedly ripped the vaunted Pitino press to shreds and we went toe-to-toe with UK to the very end.

It's one of the few times when a loss felt like a victory.

We go on to share the BE regular season title and advance to the second round where we lost to an Arkansas team that had the foundation of its national championship squad.
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Strike that.

We finished second in the conference with a 12-6 record behind Seton Hall and Terry Dehere, and Brian Mahoney was named BE coach of the year.

We had Roshown McLeod and James Scott coming in and were hot on the tail of superstar recruits Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton.

We were flying high.

What could go wrong?!


Rick would go on to the Final Four and lose to the Fab 5. Three years later he would win the 1996 National Championship. We would finish 11-16 and Mahoney would be fired.
 
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BrookJersey Redmen said:
Rick's memory of our St. John's history and tradition should not begin and end with 1985/Chris & Luigi C.

Well before then we were perennially good to great; and even after that we had some good to great moments (Malik; Ron-Ron, etc.).

Admittedly the CMA/Mullin years were bad and Lavin and Jarvis only had moments. Mahoney/FF were pit stops and of course the Norm years were bad. So I get why the bringing back St. John's to where it belongs is a nice tag line!

I'm older than a lot of people on here, so maybe I take a tiny bit of umbrage of this return to the glory of the '85 Final Four team as a mantra.

As I type this I am thinking College BB and the Big Dance going to 64 teams in the 80's is the modern frame of reference for CBB history so maybe it makes sense.
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Maybe just accept you are not the target audience.😉😊🤣 It’s bad enough we have to go back 40 years to talk about St. John’s sustained success do you really want him to be talking about the St. John’s Wonder Five? 😉
 
bamafan said:
Maybe just accept you are not the target audience.😉😊🤣 It’s bad enough we have to go back 40 years to talk about St. John’s sustained success do you really want him to be talking about the St. John’s Wonder Five? 😉
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I agree, but more references to the Artest teams, or the excitement of Felipe Lopez, would be more recent and from a branding perspective help offset the perception of SJU as one year wonders.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Rick's memory of our St. John's history and tradition should not begin and end with 1985/Chris & Luigi C.

Well before then we were perennially good to great; and even after that we had some good to great moments (Malik; Ron-Ron, etc.).

Admittedly the CMA/Mullin years were bad and Lavin and Jarvis only had moments. Mahoney/FF were pit stops and of course the Norm years were bad. So I get why the bringing back St. John's to where it belongs is a nice tag line!

I'm older than a lot of people on here, so maybe I take a tiny bit of umbrage of this return to the glory of the '85 Final Four team as a mantra.

As I type this I am thinking College BB and the Big Dance going to 64 teams in the 80's is the modern frame of reference for CBB history so maybe it makes sense.
Click to expand...
Honestly I don't think Rick is a compendium on the history of St. John's basketball nor should he be.
He took over Providence right after our Final Four year, and he was in NY as a Knicks assistant during our final 4 year. So he knows that as our high water mark.

Everything else we think as success would be a failure for a Pitino team.

He is very welcoming to former players who show up at practice and respects our history as kings of nyc college basketball, if not as part of the national championship discussion.

So I'm good with his mantra, even if repetitive.
 
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