New Headline: Red Storm Triumphantly Revives Prestigious Title, Defying Odds to Claim Elite Conference Victory!

St. John's forward Dillon Mitchell (1) and St. John's head coach Rick Pitino embrace each other during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against UConn in the championship of the Big East tournament, Saturday, March 14, 2026, in New York.

(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. As St.

John’s coach Rick Pitino spoke following the Red Storm’s 72-52 victory over Connecticut in the Big East Conference championship game Saturday night, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry sat silently on a table near the front of the press conference room at Madison Square Garden. In 1986, Berry was the national player of the year, while Jackson led the nation in assists and the Red Storm tied for first in the Big East regular season and then won the tournament title. Forty years later, Pitino has St.

John’s back to where it was back then, with the Red Storm a national power and capturing New York City’s attention, something that seemed impossible to occur again before he arrived three years ago. With Saturday’s dominant win, St. John’s became the first program in league history to win the outright conference regular season and postseason titles in consecutive years.