Rick Pitino's St. John's Red Storm Hit Massive AP Top 25 Milestone

Rick Pitino has the St. John's Red Storm hitting heights they haven't seen since the early 1990s.

Jan 11, 2025; New York, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino leads the team back onto the floor after a 80-68 victory over the Villanova Wildcats at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Rick Pitino is doing something special at St. John's. Anyone surprised by that doesn't truly understand the legend that is Pitino is in the college basketball world, though. He's a two-time NCAA Champion head coach — having won it all at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013) — and he's been doing this at a high level since the 1970s.

Pitino's return to the Big East as head coach for the Johnnies started with a 20-13 record in 2023-24. He now quickly has his team at 26-4 in 2024-25 and they're one of the best teams in the country, not just in the Big East. The record is impressive enough, but what comes along with this St. John's season is just as impressive.

A few days ago, the Johnnies won their first outright Big East title since 1985 with a win over Seton Hall. On Monday, with the release of the latest men's AP Top 25, St. John accomplished a feat years in the making.

The Red Storm are ranked No. 6 in the nation behind only Auburn, Duke, Houston, Tennessee and Florida. St. John's No. 6 ranking is its highest since 1990-91, when the Johnnies reached No. 5 in the country under head coach Lou Carnesecca.

"This is the answer to a prayer," St. John's president, Rev. Brian Shanley, said after the win over Seton Hall, according to ESPN . "This is what I hoped when we hired Rick that we would get back where we are right now -- contending for a national championship. This is just the beginning in my book."

Winning the Big East and being ranked No. 6 in the nation is one thing. Now Pitino's squad has to back up it's hype. This is just the beginning, after all.

First up for the Red Storm is a season-ending game on March 8 at No. 20 Marquette that can't be looked past. The Golden Eagles have a game at UConn before hosting St. John's, but at the time of this writing they're 22-7 and 13-5 in Big East Play.

From there, it's the Big East Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament, where the Johnnies will be under a ton of pressure to perform. In that 1990-91 season under Carnesecca, St. John's lost to Duke in the Midwest Regional Final, 78-61.

As Reverend Shanley alluded to, championships are now the expectation, but that's always the case for a Pitino-led team.