St. John’s gets #2 seed in West, opens NCAA Tournament vs. Omaha

St. John’s celebrates as Red Storm learns its NCAA Tournament fate. Johnnies face Omaha in first round Thursday. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

By Jason Dimaio (@Jaydimaio)

NEW YORK — The stage is finally set.

After weeks of wondering what the true ceiling for St. John’s could be, what seed line it would land on when the bracket was revealed, and all the potential matchup scenarios, we finally have our answer.

The Red Storm will be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, opening its first foray in March Madness since 2019 against 15th seed Omaha, the champion of the Summit League, in Providence Thursday night. The contest will tip off at 9:45 p.m., and will be televised on CBS.

This is the highest seed St. John’s has earned in the NCAA Tournament since 2000, when the Johnnies were also the No. 2 seed in the West.

Much of the discussion on St. John’s side of the bracket seems to have already centered around who the Red Storm would face in the second round should it get that far, as the Big East champions would be matched up with the winner of Kansas and Arkansas, setting up a meeting of two Hall of Fame coaches between Rick Pitino and either Bill Self or John Calipari. When Pitino was asked if he thought the selection committee strategically planned that

way, he immediately shot that down.

“I don’t think that comes into play,” he said. “I really don’t. Many times we have this theory about how they do these matchups and they really don’t do it that way. Sometimes it just turns out to be that way.” 

To keep the theme of Hollywood scripts going, should St. John’s advance deep into the second weekend of the tournament, a possible matchup with top seed Florida could await them, where Pitino would meet his former point guard at Iona, Walter Clayton, Jr. Yet again, he immediately rejected the thought of looking that far ahead.

“Have you followed me at all this year?” Pitino quipped. “I’m always just focused on the next game and you have me playing Florida! I hope you’re right.”

Going back to the Johnnies’ first-round matchup with Omaha, Pitino admitted he had been scouting some teams they could potentially face in the first round, but the Mavericks had not been one of them. In terms of game planning, Pitino said the Red Storm will be watching Omaha’s league games as opposed to non-conference matchups with high-major teams, so he can see how teams who were familiar with the Mavericks played them. Associate head coach Steve Masiello gave Pitino a spreadsheet of player stats on Omaha as their side of the bracket was revealed.

Deivon Smith, who took a hard blow to the upper body in Saturday's Big East tournament championship game, said he is doing just fine and that it was a blow to the head, not his shoulder, which has been an ongoing injury. Pitino said despite this being one of the most injured teams he has ever coached, everyone is good to go come Thursday.

“Our players are not tired right now,” he said. “They’re on a high.”