A belated postmortem on St. John’s, focusing more on what this year was and less on how it ended

With 31 wins and Big East championship, this year is still cause for celebration at St. John’s despite early NCAA Tournament exit. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

In a perfect world, today would be a day for celebration on the corner of Union and Utopia, with St. John’s having either powered through the West regional to reach its first Final Four in 40 years or having come up just short, but still reaching the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time this century.

Instead, the Red Storm’s season came to a screeching halt nine days ago, derailed in a slugfest against Arkansas after Kadary Richmond fouled out on a controversial call with just over six minutes remaining in regulation, while RJ Luis attempted to fight through an uncharacteristic 3-for-17 effort.

Still, and the later nature of this column due to extensive tournament travel allows the proper time to put everything in perspective, the campaign the Johnnies concluded last week should be celebrated, and deservedly so.

A 31-5 record, the win total matching the most ever in a single season, from a program that has been in existence since 1907. An 18-2 mark in Big East play, matching the bar set by one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport, last year’s UConn outfit. The first NCAA Tournament victory after 25 years of suffering and wandering the desert.

Look back on the past five months with reverence at those milestones the next time you—a St. John’s fan—wonder what could have been against Arkansas, what may have happened if Richmond didn’t pick up his fifth foul on a shaky whistle that had disrupted the entire game, how drastically different the tenor of the closing minutes would be had Luis, or any of his teammates outside of Zuby Ejiofor, been able to hit a shot.

St. John’s today stands far more stable than it did a quarter-century ago when it relished its most recent win in March before this year. Mike Jarvis struggled to a sub-.500 finish in the 2000-01 campaign after losing the likes of Erick Barkley, Bootsy Thornton and Lavor Postell. Thanks to Rick Pitino, who—love him or hate him—has already proven himself worthy of a statue alongside the bust of Joe Lapchick outside the Carnesecca media entrance, the Red Storm is already in position to be at or near the top of the Big East once more next season. Ejiofor announced his return this past weekend, one that almost everyone knew was coming but needed to be declared official in light of the landscape of the sport. Luis entered the transfer portal and will also look to the NBA Draft, but at the moment, everyone else with remaining eligibility is also on track to return to Queens, and Pitino has already racked up a verbal commitment in the transfer portal from Arizona State expatriate Joson Sanon. Look for him to shore up the well-documented gap in St. John’s shooting this past year. Bryce Hopkins, a former all-Big East forward at Providence, visited the school recently and has been rumored to become the latest piece in the reformation, but his destination remains unofficial.

There will be more twists and turns to come as the offseason rages on, but take solace in this as a St. John’s fan: This year is merely a precursor to what lies ahead as long as Pitino is in town.

“There’s always a silver lining in every cloud,” he said of his journey back to the college game, which began with a detour in Greece. “It rejuvenated me, it stopped me from being bitter. It’s just adversity. You can look adversity square in the eyes and piss all over it if you’re smart.”

“It’s been fun. It’s been a blast. Next year, we’ll have about six or seven players returning, and that’ll be a major benefit.”

Remember this year for what it was: The national reemergence, the multiple sellouts at Madison Square Garden, the old-school style used to leave no doubt who was better at the final buzzer. The defense that was, at one point, the best and most efficient in the nation, the top 5 ranking, the short work of the Big East tournament to be rewarded with a No. 2 seed on Selection Sunday. The memory of Lou Carnesecca and his indelible imprint on his hometown program, one on which he looks down from his perch above and smiles with pride at how it has risen from where it once sat amid the rubble.

If last year was act one of this revival off Broadway and this year served as act two, you may want to hit the concession stand now before act three begins. You may regret not being around to see it.

To everyone who read, engaged, supported, or even criticized my St. John’s coverage this season: Thank you for all the interaction. You all made the best season for the team in my time covering it entertaining, sometimes stressful, but largely enjoyable.

More reflection will come in next month’s epilogue, but I couldn’t leave it unwrapped after going from Providence to Raleigh and back. Thanks again.

Duke buries Alabama, heads back to Final Four

Jon Scheyer greets media as he celebrates Duke’s East regional championship Saturday. Scheyer now heads to first Final Four since replacing Mike Krzyzewski as Blue Devils’ coach in 2022. (Photo by Sam Federman/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

NEWARK, N.J. — With a rousing ovation from Duke’s quasi-home crowd inside the Prudential Center, the Blue Devils put the finishing touches on yet another dominant performance against Alabama, winning 85-65 to book a trip to the Final Four.

Duke is a historically good basketball team. Now 35-3, ACC double champions, and East regional champions, the Blue Devils taking down the Crimson Tide isn’t something that people didn’t see coming. But to hold the nation’s fourth-ranked offense to its second-worst output of the season, 0.89 points per possession, and to lead from start to finish in doing so, is.

This group of Blue Devils may be one of the best teams in recent memory in college basketball, and they’ll have the chance to prove that next week in San Antonio. But for this program, it’s the standard.

For most programs, they’d be at least satisfied with getting to the Elite 8 in year two with a young head coach, but at Duke, it’s the bare minimum. Jon Scheyer has repeatedly discussed how every single decision that the staff and team made since the day of that defeat has come down to making it back to that moment, and capitalizing, especially knowing that he had a truly special talent in Cooper Flagg coming into the program.

Flagg has lived up to the hype, if not exceeding it, but the success of everybody around him coming together to form this superteam has been a credit to those decisions.

One of those decisions, taking Sion James, a transfer from Tulane, has helped bolster the backcourt throughout the year. And even though his Duke journey didn’t start until his fifth year in college, he understands what it means to wear the jersey, while his history at a smaller program also allows him valuable perspective on what makes Duke special.

“(Making the Final Four) is the expectation,” James said. “Because of how it’s been here, but it’s not a guarantee by any means. Just because we go to Duke doesn’t mean that we’re going to be in the Final Four every year, it’s a grind.”

While Final Fours are always special, it takes winning two more games after that to truly leave an indelible mark on the Duke basketball legacy. This year’s team has the second highest KenPom net rating of any since that metric started in 1996-97, trailing only the 1998-99 Blue Devils.

But that Duke team, despite finishing 37-2 and going 16-0 in a strong ACC, and losing two games by a combined five points, isn’t typically mentioned in the conversation of greatest college basketball team ever. It’s because it didn’t win on Monday night.

If anything has been proven throughout this season, it’s that Duke doesn’t need to do anything out of character to beat anybody in the country, really by any margin it wants. It all comes down to execution.

“How can we continue to be us with different distractions and different environment,” Scheyer said is the main thing on his mind heading into the Final Four. “So that’s up to us to help as a coaching staff, but I know our guys will be excited and up for the challenge.”

It’s a coaching staff that lost quasi-defensive coordinator Jai Lucas to the head coaching position at Miami before the ACC tournament, but the defense looked far from uncoordinated.

Kon Knueppel played one of his best defensive games of the season against Alabama. Khaman Maluach continues to grow, and stuck with Mark Sears plenty on switches, while the ultimate trump card of Flagg’s versatility has continued to wreak havoc all tournament long. Sears didn’t score until the final minutes of the opening half, with Alabama coach Nate Oats deciding to sit him on the bench for a few minutes twice in favor of Aden Holloway.

Duke forced the Tide into much longer possessions than they’re used to, switching ball screens with length and discipline to limit any sort of advantages that Alabama typically creates.

“We have a luxury to have a guy with Khaman where he can really play different coverages,” Scheyer said. “We have a 7-foot-2 guy switching onto one of the best guards in the country and he’s doing a pretty good job moving his feet.”

There were points in the game where Duke completely shut off the paint, and there were points in the game where Duke completely shut off Alabama’s ability to get threes off. And throughout the game, it was the Tide’s inability to find either that illustrated Duke’s dominance.

No matter what gameplan you want to throw at the Blue Devils, they can take it away. After all, they’re top five in the country in both offense and defense, having won games by 20-plus points without going to 60 possessions, and going above 70 possessions. It’s the combination of size, skill, shooting, strength, and overall maturity that makes this Duke team truly special.

If you let it play the game on its terms, you’re going to lose. You can try to play it on your own terms, but you’re still going to lose, and probably by a lot.

It may not be the exact same as when Mike Krzyzewski roamed the sidelines. The team seems markedly less hateable to the average college basketball fan (while my editor will disagree with his Carolina-blue tinted glasses, the sentiment has permeated the sport). Many who hated past Duke stars can’t find it in them to hate Flagg the same way. But that doesn’t mean Coach K’s presence isn’t still felt in some way, especially for Scheyer.

“I’ve always wanted to make him proud,” Scheyer said. “I want his legacy to be how our program continues to be right there as a top program. So obviously, there’s a responsibility and you feel a pride.”

And now, San Antonio awaits.

Kevin Willard back in Big East as former Seton Hall coach leaves Maryland for Villanova

Kevin Willard is expected to leave Maryland for Villanova, bringing former Seton Hall coach back to Big East. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

Kevin Willard is on his way back to the Big East.

The embattled Maryland head coach, who spent 12 seasons at Seton Hall before taking over in College Park three years ago, has accepted the head coaching vacancy at Villanova. Jeff Ermann of InsideMDSports was first to report the news shortly after midnight Sunday morning. CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein also reported that Willard is expected to hold a team meeting Sunday morning to inform his Maryland players of his departure.

The move comes just three days after the Terrapins’ season came to a close at the hands of Florida in the West regional semifinals, just the second time Maryland had reached the Sweet 16 since winning its lone national championship in 2002. In three years as Mark Turgeon’s successor, Willard posted a 65-39 record, guiding the Terps to the NCAA Tournament twice in that span.

Willard became an inadvertent source of controversy during Maryland’s run through March, with his candor surrounding the program’s resources, as well as the apparent departure of outgoing athletic director Damon Evans, making headlines. The coach addressed the situation again Thursday after the loss to Florida, but reiterated he had—at that point—neither accepted nor declined an offer from Villanova.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ll just be honest with you,” Willard said Thursday. “I haven’t talked to my agent, I haven’t talked to my wife. I made a promise to this team that I was just going to focus on this team, and that’s all I’ve done. So I haven’t talked to anybody. I have an agent, I’m sure he’s talking to people—because that’s what agents like to do—but I don’t know. Right now, my biggest concerns in life right now, I don’t know who my boss is going to be, and I don’t know who we’re going to hire.”

“In today’s day and age, that worries me a little bit. I’m just being honest. So this is going to be a family decision. I love College Park, I love Maryland, but when you’re at this point in your career and you’re looking at things, I have to take everything into consideration moving forward. But I have not even talked to anybody, so I don’t know what I’m doing. I have no idea. I understand fans are going to be pissed because I’m in limbo and this and that. I get it. I’m kind of pissed, to be honest with you, because I didn’t expect to be in this situation.”

Willard’s comments were eerily similar to those he made in his exodus from Seton Hall in 2022, when he coached the Pirates in an NCAA Tournament loss to TCU amid rumors that he was leaving for Maryland. In his postgame press conference that night, he seemingly foreshadowed Seton Hall’s eventual hire of Shaheen Holloway—his former assistant who was in the midst of an Elite 8 run at Saint Peter’s—by saying it “would be the happiest thing to happen to me.” Willard struck a lighter tone when wrapping up his recently concluded season, but offered no further foresight on his own future.

“I really enjoyed coaching this basketball team,” he said. “From the time they stepped on campus in June, they’ve just been so much fun to coach. It was just a whole lot of fun.”

Villanova opens its postseason on Tuesday in Las Vegas, when it takes on Colorado in the opening round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown. The Wildcats will be led by interim coach Mike Nardi, who was promoted following the firing of Kyle Neptune on March 15 after three seasons at the helm.

At the point where its season ended last year, Duke looks to break through to Jon Scheyer’s first Final Four as coach

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

NEWARK, N.J. — March 31, 2024. Dallas, Texas.

The only thing standing between Duke and a trip to Phoenix for the Final Four was an 11th-seeded NC State team that the Blue Devils had defeated by 15 points on the road earlier in the month.

But the road stopped there. Less than 48 hours after the best win of Jon Scheyer’s tenure as head coach, out-gutting a shorthanded Houston team in a gritty Sweet 16 win, the emotions did a full 180. Duke couldn’t get a single stop in the second half, allowing 55 points, and the Blue Devils’ season ended in Dallas.

A year later, and in the same shoes, Duke looks to return to the Final Four for the first time since Scheyer took the helm, this time as a No. 1 seed, taking on No. 2 seed Alabama.

After the loss, the Blue Devils turned the page immediately.

“Frankly, every decision we've made since March 31st of last year,” Scheyer said, “was to put ourselves in this same position and have the opportunity to capitalize.”

Fitting pieces around Cooper Flagg was the first challenge, although his supremely versatile skillset made it hardly a challenge at all. Nate Oats called Flagg’s versatility his biggest strength when asked what the first thing a coach looks to take away is. And Duke was able to return Tyrese Proctor alongside the talented freshman class of Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach; along with adding three important transfers into the fray in Sion James from Tulane, Maliq Brown from Syracuse, and Mason Gillis from Purdue.

Thirty-seven games later, the Blue Devils are 34-3 and a win away from the Final Four, with each piece contributing at a high level.

“Well, look, one, you don't take for granted how hard it is to get to an Elite 8, first and foremost,” Scheyer said. “So when you're in this spot, you have another opportunity to be back, you want to seize the moment.”

But he doesn’t look at last season as a mental roadblock for his team, and just wants Duke to continue preparing like it has all season long.

“I think the biggest thing to understand for our team and our players is you don't have to do anything different once you're here,” Scheyer said. “You have to do it at a high level, but you don't have to do anything different. Everything we've done this summer with our workouts, the mental preparation has been building mental toughness, and really preparing to be at your best when your best is required.”

As the top team in KenPom’s rankings, Duke ran through the regular season, with losses by five points to Kentucky, three to Kansas, and six to Clemson surrounding massive wins throughout the whole year. Despite losing Flagg and Brown to injuries in the ACC tournament, the Blue Devils finished the job in Charlotte, securing the second overall seed in the big draw.

And over the first weekend, they delivered on that, demolishing both Mount St. Mary’s and Baylor before coming to Newark and surviving a late push from familiar foe Caleb Love and Arizona. Flagg returned to the floor for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and is a non-negotiable for any sort of run as the favorite for National Player of the Year, but Brown’s return on Thursday gave four key minutes when Duke struggled with foul trouble.

“Look, he's not 100 percent. He's not close to it,” Scheyer said. “And ideally, he wouldn't have played in (Thursday’s) game. It was more of an emergency.”

An emergency that Duke has been able to alleviate throughout the year with the amount of depth and talent on the roster.

Finally, Scheyer has made the Final Four as a player and assistant coach, but has yet to make it to this stage as a head coach, and he understands what that means.

“It's the hardest game to win,” Scheyer said of the Elite 8. “You’re an inch away from the promised land, going to a Final Four. I think with that at stake, it brings out really high-level basketball, desperation, the competitive level. Obviously you're that close. And I've been on both sides, and it's heartbreaking when you lose, and it's the best feeling when you win.”

Alabama puts on record-setting show, buries BYU in 3-point barrage to reach Elite 8

Mark Sears lets it fly as Alabama, with 25 made 3-point field goals, set NCAA Tournament record in rout of BYU. (Photo by Alabama Men’s Basketball)

NEWARK, N.J. — To the casual observer of the four teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament’s East regional, it may have seemed like the fanfare surrounding the Sweet 16 was focused squarely on Duke, with a lesser spotlight on everyone else.

Alabama may end up shining brightest this weekend, no matter the end result.

The Crimson Tide left a lasting impression Thursday, setting a single-game tournament record with 25 made 3-point field goals—overall, 51 of its 66 attempts came from behind the arc—leaving BYU to sink in a hail of its marksmanship in a 113-88 obliteration of the Cougars. The torching display shattered the previous record of 21, set by Loyola Marymount in 1990 against then-defending national champion Michigan.

“That was a fun game if you like offense,” head coach Nate Oats quipped. “That was fun for the fans, I’m sure, at least for the Alabama fans.”

Thursday’s proceedings were also fun for Mark Sears, Alabama’s All-American senior point guard who entered the game having made just five of his last 35 attempts. Sears put those struggles to rest early and often, knocking down 10 of his 16 threes and shooting 11-for-18 on the night, en route to 34 points and eight assists as the Tide did not relent with its explosive effort from long distance.

“Even when I was shooting 14 percent, my confidence was still high,” Sears said, crediting his teammates for upholding his belief in himself. “I never stopped doubting in myself or stopped believing in myself, and my teammates kept encouraging me to keep shooting it. Even though I’m not at my highest peak, they still trust me and want me to shoot the ball. I felt the basket was as big as an ocean, and every time I shot, it felt like it was going in. I just lost myself in the game and let everything else happen.”

“I told Sears, there’s a thing called regression to the mean,” Oats added. “(BYU) had been going under ball screens just about every game we watched. I told (Aden) Holloway and Sears, ‘man, I hope they go under us, because we’re gonna rain them.’”

Alabama proceeded to do exactly that, shooting 12-for-27 from deep in a first half where it dropped 51 points on a Cougar squad that was no stranger to offense in its own right. The prolific display only heightened over the final 20 minutes, with the Tide connecting on 13 of 24 triples to end BYU’s campaign and reach back-to-back regional finals for the first time in program history, a fact not lost on Oats when asked to explain its significance.

“When I got the job, we didn’t have the transfer portal, eligibility immediately, NIL,” Oats recalled. “So it was a little harder to turn it around immediately like you can now. We kind of turned it in year two (2020-21), made that Sweet 16 run and then the recruiting—Bryan Hodgson, Antoine Pettway, now I’ve got Preston Murphy—I’ve had some of the best recruiters in the country get some really good talent to play the way we want to play.”

“I love playing this way, I think players want to play this way. Even our first year, we played this way, we just didn’t have as much talent to do it. Now we’ve been able to get the talent, we keep the resources where we need to and keep making these runs. I think the Alabama fans like us making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, at least I do.”

The Tide’s run is far from over, though, as Alabama now awaits either Duke or Arizona in Saturday’s regional final. Oats expects a somewhat different tenor of the game then, but is banking on a complete effort from his roster on both ends of the floor.

“We gotta keep moving the ball,” he said. “Whether it’s Duke or Arizona, their defense is gonna be a little different. We’ve gotta do a good job on the offensive side of the ball, showing them how they can get the threes. If whoever ends up winning decides they’re not gonna give us some threes, that’s fine too. Let’s get to the rim. The other thing is our defense is going to have to be really good, because they both have very good offenses.”

“I don’t know that we’re gonna repeat 51 threes attempted, but we’re going to have the guys ready to play the right way, in my opinion, and fresh. And if we get stops, it’s a lot easier to get out in transition.”

St. John’s headlines 2024-25 MBWA ballot

As the NCAA Tournament gets closer to the Final Four, college basketball on the local scene has concluded after St. John’s was eliminated last week, its trip to the Sweet 16 thwarted by Arkansas.

With that being said, the area now shifts its sights to honoring the best of the region, which will happen on April 24 at the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association awards dinner.

This year’s festivities should feature a heavily red and white-colored presence amid the distinctions, as St. John’s was head and shoulders above the competition in what was an uncharacteristically down year for local college basketball. The Red Storm was the sole NCAA Tournament representative among the city and its suburbs, while New Jersey was shut out on Selection Sunday for the first time since 2015. In fact, only Manhattan and Army represented the rest of the field in a postseason tournament, with both the Jaspers and Black Knights competing in the College Basketball Invitational.

For the 13th consecutive year, I have the privilege of casting a ballot for the players and coaches who will be recognized at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel and Conference Center in Tarrytown. And as I always do every year, for the sake of transparency and engagement, I will reveal it here.

Without any further ado:

Lt. Frank J. Haggerty Award: RJ Luis, St. John’s (photo by St. John’s Athletics)

18.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.4 SPG, 44% FG, 75% FT, 34% 3-pt FG

Luis, St. John’s first Big East Player of the Year since Walter Berry nearly four decades ago, took over many a second half as the Red Storm enjoyed its best season since the 1985 Final Four run that made the Queens school a household name on the national level. Luis was nearly perfect in crunch time as the Red Storm lost only two conference games and used an old-school, bully-ball defensive style to authoritatively dominate its opposition. The Johnnies’ resurgence opened the door for Luis to stake his claim as the area’s best, and once he did, the junior from Miami did not look back. If Luis does capture the Haggerty Award, he will be the first recipient for St. John’s since Shamorie Ponds won it in 2018.

Also considered: Dylan Harper, Rutgers; Xaivian Lee, Princeton

Rest of All-Met first team, in alphabetical order:

Ace Bailey, Rutgers

Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s

Dylan Harper, Rutgers

Xaivian Lee, Princeton

Kadary Richmond, St. John’s

All-Met second team, in alphabetical order:

Abdi Bashir, Monmouth

Terrence Brown, FDU

Isaiah Coleman, Seton Hall

Josh Pascarelli, Marist

Dejour Reaves, Iona

All-Met third team, in alphabetical order:

Jean Aranguren, Hofstra

Malachi Davis, LIU

Jalen Rucker, Army

Will Sydnor, Manhattan

Tanner Thomas, Sacred Heart

Rookie of the Year: Dylan Harper, Rutgers (photo by Rutgers Athletics)

19.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.4 SPG, 48% FG, 75% FT, 33% 3-pt FG

An almost certain top five pick in June’s NBA Draft, Harper dazzled in what will be his lone season on the banks, teaming up with fellow freshman Ace Bailey to provide several highlights in a promising season that was unfortunately derailed for Rutgers. Harper missed three games with a high ankle sprain in the middle of Big Ten play, but impacted the Scarlet Knights like no other player this year when he was on the floor, making the best of what he had around him.

Also considered: Ace Bailey, Rutgers; Will Sydnor, Manhattan

Lou Carnesecca Coach of the Year: Rick Pitino, St. John’s (photo by St. John’s Athletics)

This award, recently renamed in honor of Carnesecca after the iconic and colorful former St. John’s coach died on November 30, will be fittingly presented to the current caretaker of the program he put on the map. While most programs in the area scuttled to the finish line, Pitino made sure his Red Storm unit gathered steam through January and February, culminating with the Johnnies’ first NCAA Tournament win since 2000. The Hall of Fame architect validated the statistical data that showed marked improvements in his second season at each of the schools he has coached, going from 20-13 last year (the first time he had ever won 20 games in his first season at any college) to 31-5 this season.

Also considered: John Dunne, Marist; Tobin Anderson, Iona

Hurley looking forward to offseason, chance to further invest in himself and UConn

Dan Hurley engages fan as UConn leaves hotel prior to Sunday’s game against Florida. Huskies now adjust to offseason, one Hurley is hopeful will help revamp his team and his own skill set. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

Three years ago, when UConn was bounced out of the NCAA Tournament by a 12th seed in New Mexico State, Dan Hurley used the loss to take stock in not only his program, but himself as a coach.

“It changed the way we put together our roster,” he said last year after the Huskies defeated Illinois to return to the Final Four. “The personalities, the skill sets, a long look in the mirror at me as an offensive coach. I’ve always done a lot of things right, but there were blind spots for this program to become elite. That sucked, man.”

UConn went on to win the next two national championships, and 13 straight NCAA Tournament games, two streaks that came to an end Sunday as the Huskies lost to Florida in the second round of March Madness. A visibly emotional Hurley remarked about how much he loved his team and the honor with which it fought and competed, but also embraced the opportunity to once again tweak his own performance just as he did in 2022.

“I would say going into the year, there’s a lot of rewiring and things I gotta do in the offseason because you just get caught up in this tidal wave of success that we’ve had,” he said. “You lose perspective. You struggle with the ego at times, because you’ve been on this incredible run.”

Being the coach of the reigning champion came with media obligations and responsibilities that deterred Hurley from doing what he would rather do, working on reconstructing his roster and attacking the transfer portal as it opens and not halfway into the open season on what has become the free agency period of college basketball. The portal opens Monday, and UConn is set to lose at least two players to graduation in Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, plus freshman Liam McNeeley to the NBA Draft, where he is a projected lottery pick. Junior forward Alex Karaban has one more season of eligibility, but has not made a decision about his future one way or the other. The Huskies also welcome a four-member recruiting class to Storrs next season, headlined by a trio of McDonald’s All-Americans in Darius Adams, Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe.

“It’ll be nice to get to a normal offseason and just get back to myself as a coach, and not have to throw out first pitches,” Hurley admitted. “You should only be ringing stock market bells and throwing out first pitches when you win a major championship. I won’t have to do things like that. I’ll be able to just focus on the upcoming season and make better decisions with all aspects of coaching.”

UConn’s final battle this season symbolic of what Huskies have become

From L-R: Alex Karaban, Hassan Diarra, Dan Hurley and Samson Johnson walk off court for final time together as UConn’s season, and quest for third straight national championship, ended Sunday in 77-75 loss to Florida. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

When Dan Hurley previewed UConn’s second-round NCAA Tournament contest against Florida, he praised the Gators, but also offered a somewhat bold declaration when he said someone—whomever it may be—had to put his team down once and for all to take the championship belt of sorts that had resided around the waist of the Huskies since April 2023.

Hurley, a self-admitted wrestling fan, would appreciate that that statement he made Friday after UConn turned back Oklahoma to advance to the round of 32, was akin to the gesture Shawn Michaels made in the final singles match of his career, when Michaels slapped The Undertaker in an act of defiance, in essence daring him to end Michaels’ iconic WWE run. Coincidentally, that match took place at what is now State Farm Stadium in Arizona, where the Huskies cemented their claim to a college basketball dynasty last April by repeating as national champions.

On Sunday, The Undertaker—in this case, Florida’s Walter Clayton, Jr., who was a sophomore at Iona when the Gaels led UConn at halftime before becoming the first of its 13 consecutive March Madness foes to be vanquished, obliged. His back-to-back three-pointers in the final minutes were the basketball equivalent of the two tombstone piledrivers that put Michaels down to stay 15 years ago. The Gators never gave up the lead after Clayton’s two daggers splashed through the Lenovo Center nets, holding on for a 77-75 win in Raleigh.

“If it’s going to come to an end for us, I wouldn’t have wanted it to be in a game where we lost to a lower seed,” Hurley reflected. “We played in a manner that gave us a real chance to win. Credit Clayton, he made some NBA-level threes off the dribble to beat us. It took that for somebody to put us down in this tournament.”

UConn, as one would expect from a fighting champion, defended its title with desperation this weekend, with a caginess befitting a veteran program. The Huskies dug deep Friday to fend off an Oklahoma team done in by poor shooting and Alex Karaban rising up one more time to hit clutch shots, and carried the momentum from the win over the Sooners into Sunday. UConn did not go quietly against a Florida side who could very well be the national championship favorite—it would likely be either the Gators or Duke at this point—and played perhaps its best defense of the year while Hurley coached circles around Todd Golden for a majority of the day. But an 8-0 Florida run started by Clayton’s two shots, and foretold by minor miscues where the impact of each was not truly revealed until the lead changed hands, signified a changing of the guard.

“I didn’t want to go home today,” Samson Johnson said. “I just wanted to win the game. You gotta give it everything you have. That’s the mentality I came into the game with and I was trying everything in my power to have my team win. We just came up short.”

“I thought we played with tremendous honor,” Hurley told CBS’ Tracy Wolfson. “I thought we played with the heart of a championship program and a program that’s gone back-to-back. With a worthy opponent like that, there’s honor in the way we went out.”

And so ends the careers of Johnson and Hassan Diarra in Storrs, the two winningest players in UConn history. Karaban, with an additional year of eligibility remaining, still has a decision to make about his own future, and did not tip his hand one way or the other on Sunday. For now, though, they exit the stage having made their mark on a coach who was unsure of his future following the now-seminal loss to New Mexico State three years ago.

“Young men like that change your life,” an emotional Hurley said through multiple cracks of his voice and steely facade. “The players change your life when you have such special people.”

“I just love them,” he told Wolfson when interviewed by CBS. “This year, it’s been a real battle. We’ve battled and at times, I don’t think we liked each other a whole lot with some of the things we had to go through together. But I don’t think I’ll ever love a team more for how hard we fought for what we were trying to accomplish and for the honor we played with today.”

“We’re a passionate program. The players play with it, I coach with it. You’re always fucking drained when it’s over.”

The heartbreak kids have left the building.

Calipari, Arkansas rise from dead into Sweet 16

John Calipari’s first season at Arkansas reached Sweet 16 Saturday after Razorbacks upset St. John’s. (Photo by On3 Sports)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — John Calipari reminded those quick to dismiss his Arkansas team that the Razorbacks may have been packed up and placed in a coffin even as they were one of a record 14 Southeastern Conference teams selected for NCAA Tournament berths.

There was only one problem, the Hall of Fame coach cautioned. All those who had written Arkansas off had made the mistake of forgetting the nails to secure the Hogs’ collective carcass into a final resting place.

Now, after losing its first five SEC games and six of seven to start the conference season, placing Arkansas firmly off the March radar, the team no one expected to be here is not just here, it is the life of the party after upsetting St. John’s to reach the Sweet 16.

“I’m proud of these guys,” a jubilant Calipari said Saturday. “All of them here had to overcome stuff, and they did. They did because they’re good guys, they’ve been raised right, and they knew finally—not at the beginning of the year—that we absolutely need each other, or we’re going down together. And they became one heartbeat. They figured out that if I worry more about the team and less about myself, ‘man, I play better!’ It took time.”

“We had guys in a dark place where they would look like that, but now they know I can be in a dark place like that and overcome it. I hope they also understand that you can go fast alone, but if you want to go far, you go with others. I think they now understand that we all gotta do what we’re supposed to do, and we gotta do this together. We can’t be selfish trying to get our own.”

Equally criticized and revered for his pioneering of relying on high-impact freshmen over the years, Calipari has been overlooked at times as his one-and-done players have been replaced by the transfer portal as the hip new toy in the college basketball landscape. But with a first-year core of Billy Richmond, Karter Knox and Boogie Fland to pair with veteran transfers the likes of Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, the embattled former Kentucky boss has had a rejuvenating first season out of Lexington. And he has changed his style in a sense even as he has denied such a notion, by not only allowing his players to have a stronger and more amplified voice, but also by letting each play through adversity to help cultivate natural maturity.

“If you really want to bust out, you have to take some knocks, and then overcome them to know you can,” Calipari said. “Because the whole career they’re gonna have in basketball is going to be that. Can you overcome the bad spells? Can you be so confident and fall back on your training? If you can’t, there’s no one picking you up. You gotta pick yourself up.”

“They’re fun to coach. I told them this is as rewarding a year as I’ve had based on how far we’ve come. I’ve told them a million times: You’re not gonna disappoint me, let’s figure stuff out.”

Winners of seven of nine since a February 19 loss at Auburn that left them squarely on the bubble, and perhaps on the wrong side of it, the Hogs now face a Texas Tech team much like St. John’s in terms of its defense and physicality. But with a reinvigorated coach and a renewed sense of confidence, the Razorbacks might be more dangerous now as the tournament enters its second weekend. And the one heartbeat Calipari spoke of seems to resound louder whenever it is ignored.

“To be where we are, still playing and still fighting, and having fun, I’m enjoying it,” he proclaimed. “I’m not gonna let anything faze me. Here we are, let’s have fun. I’m still holding them accountable, but I’m asking them for a lot of input. What do you see offensively? What do we need to be doing?”

“How about we give ourselves a chance to make some magic? Let’s go fight like heck, play free and loose, whatever happens, happens. Let’s go see if we can create magic.”

St. John’s dream season ends in stunning upset loss to Arkansas

RJ Luis defends Karter Knox of Arkansas. St. John’s junior star sat final five minutes of Red Storm’s NCAA Tournament loss to Arkansas. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

By Jason Dimaio (@Jaydimaio)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The magic carpet ride has been grounded.

What has been a dream season for St. John’s ended well before any of its fans would have liked, as the Red Storm’s NCAA Tournament run came to a close Saturday, suffering a 75-66 loss to the 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks and denying the Johnnies a spot in the West regional semifinals.

“I let my team down,” RJ Luis remarked on his game as the Big East Player of the Year and second team All-American shot an uncharacteristic 3-for-17 from the field and sitting for almost the final five minutes of a game that was a two-possession game when he departed with 4:56 remaining in regulation.

“Of course, everybody wants to play when it comes down to it,” Luis added. “Just for me not to be able to be on the court the last couple minutes (and) just help my team win hurt me.”

Head coach Rick Pitino did not give a specific reason as to why Luis never returned to the floor down the stretch, but even with his junior superstar out there, it would have been difficult to match the size and physicality of an Arkansas team that frustrated the Red Storm through various stretches of the afternoon.

Early on, St. John’s (31-5) had a lid on the basket and found itself on the short end of an eight-point deficit to go along with Kadary Richmond yet again finding himself in early foul trouble. The fifth-year senior retreated to the bench at the 13:12 mark of the first half after picking up his second foul, and would not play again the rest of the stanza.

But as they always have, the Johnnies would settle in and find their pace, riding the hot hand of Zuby Ejiofor, who picked up the slack for the struggling Luis and Richmond. Ejiofor would end the half with 15 points, as St. John’s would take a lead as high as  32-28. From this point on, the Razorbacks were fueled by a 7-0 run for the final 2:48 of the period, and the Red Storm would head into the locker room down 35-32 at the midway point.

Out of the half, it was Arkansas who punched the Johnnies in the mouth, extending its lead to as much as 12 points early on. But after a few turnovers and Arkansas backup big man Zvonimir Ivisic fouling out with ten minutes to go, the Johnnies took full advantage. With 6:11 to go, St. John’s was able to cut the lead down to two and the two teams

would trade baskets.

After a nifty move by Ruben Prey, which electrified the crowd in attendance, the score remained a two-point difference of 66-64.

From here, the fun stopped for St. John’s. A Billy Richmond jumper extended the lead for Arkansas, causing Pitino to take a timeout. Out of the break on the ensuing possession, Deivon Smith had a costly turnover leading to an easy transition layup for the Razorbacks, and the deficit was back up to six with under two minutes to go at 70-64. On each trip down the floor, it seemed the Johnnies hoisted up a low-percentage three, but did not see one fall as ensuing free throws would ice the game and send the de facto home crowd home in shock.

The one glaring flaw that fans and national media routinely pointed out all season would end up coming back to hurt on the grand stage, as St. John’s shot just 2-for-19 from beyond the arc.

“If they hit a few shots, they probably beat us,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari quipped on the St. John’s shooting woes.

Much of the story will center around Luis, who was held to his lowest point total since a December 31 loss to Creighton. When asked why Pitino held out the Big East player of the year in crunch time, the coach refused to take shots at one of his players, but hinted his performance was one of the main reasons for the Johnnies’ offensive struggles.

“We haven’t faced a team with that size or athleticism,” he quipped. “But that’s not why we lost. We lost today because we did not pass the ball.”

What’s next for St. John’s as the dust settles is still to be determined. Will Luis come back or opt for the NBA? Will shooting be the focal point of the type of players Pitino brings in the program? That is still to be determined, but the answers might arrive rather quickly, as the transfer portal opens Monday and the Johnnies have a bit more time to focus on it than anticipated.