Rick Pitino has never won a national championship. By now, this is well known. He made the Final Four in 1986 and 2006, but he’s never won the big one. Enter: The most successful college basketball program of all time.
In the time Rick Pitino has spent not winning it all—which is to say, eternity—St. John’s has taken the crown six different times, and they’ve made the Final Four 16 times, each far and away the best in college basketball. Taking this job, once it was offered, was an obvious move for an aging man looking to finally achieve his life’s pursuit.
It’s not going to be easy for Rick. St. John’s hasn’t made the tournament since 2014, and they haven’t made it past the second round since ’03. Even that 2003 performance doesn’t show up on the record books, their championship over Georgetown vacated by the NCAA. This is a rebuild, and with college basketball at its most historically competitive and the Final Four no longer held on one of St. John’s home courts, it’s going to be a tough one.
Still, hey: I can’t wait to see what he does. You don’t have to have won a national championship to win a national championship. Everyone starts somewhere. Maybe here, at St. John’s, Rick Pitino can begin something new.
Good luck, coach.
We’ll be watching with a well-trained eye.
I Had a Georgetown Fact Wrong
I’ve said in a few places, since the UNC decline, that Georgetown once declined an NIT bid. I was right about that. What I was wrong about is the circumstance. It did not happen under either John Thompson, and it wasn’t necessarily because the NIT was beneath them, in their eyes. It was 2002, Craig Esherick was the coach, and Georgetown claimed the decline came because of a scheduling conflict related to players’ class schedules. Whether that was true or not, they did play in the 2000 and 2003 NITs, meaning the reasoning was certainly not, “We’re too good for this shit.”
So: While I don’t think I ever definitively said, “John Thompson declined the NIT,” I thought he had, and in case I did say that: I retract, I was wrong, both John Thompsons always behaved honorably as far as the NIT is concerned.
Texas Won, Shaka Smart Lost
I thought we might be heading for a best-case scenario this weekend in which Rick Barnes and Shaka Smart each made the second weekend of the exhibition tournament and Texas didn’t. Unfortunately, we instead achieved the worst-case scenario, and even though Shaka Smart’s team overachieved and won the Big East title under either definition of “Big East title,” the haters are still clutching their ammo. Haters do a lot of clutching of things.
Fairleigh Dickinson Didn’t Make the NIT
Like Princeton, Fairleigh Dickinson was not good enough to make the NIT. They neither won their conference in the regular season nor were they good enough to garner even a look as an at-large candidate. Interesting how easily they did away with a #1 seed.
The Pat Beverley Game
I gave up on the Bulls again, but then my dad went to the game on Saturday where Pat Bev scored one hundred points in a row all by himself, and the family group chat got going about how fun it is when players are announced as being from Chicago, and long story short you can flip the meter to “back in.” I’m back in on the Bulls. Something to keep an eye on tonight, too, with the NIT done.
Team USA Rocks
The World Baseball Classic overlapping with the NIT is rough for baseball, but it was a good Saturday and Sunday for America. Excited for tomorrow night. Mostly for tomorrow NITe, but tomorrow night, too.
Also? Trea Turner’s the most fun player in baseball, right? I searched “Trea Turner fun” on www.thebarkingcrow.com, and judging by the results we’ve more than covered this before (there are upwards of fifteen posts which answer that search), but I just wanted to throw it back out there. Any child whose favorite athlete is not Trea Turner is a sign of Rob Manfred’s failings as a man. What about Joe Kelly? Joe Kelly is for adults. And really cool kids. The ones who are nice to lunch ladies but it surprises the lunch ladies because they’re intimidated by said kids. The rest? They should be obsessed with Trea Turner.
Joe Kelly’s Book Is Out(side My Door)
I’m pretty sure Joe Kelly’s book was delivered to my apartment by now. It should be out in the hallway. If not? Get ready for a slew of anti-Fetch content. It’s been a while since our last volley there.
How Done Are the Sens?
From what I can ascertain, only 13 games remain in the NHL season, at least for teams like the Ottawa Senators, who have played 69 games. From what else I can ascertain, the Sens would need to pass four teams and make up a seven-point gap over those 13 games. From what more I can ascertain, the Sens have lost five straight.
They play the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh, the Panthers play the Red Wings in Detroit, if all of that breaks the Sens’ way the guys could be five points back with only two teams to pass. It’s too easy to get back hooked. That’s why it’s a two-minute penalty.
The F Stands for F***in’
Fuckin’ A.
Burnley lost 6–0 to Man City on Saturday in the FA Cup quarterfinals, the team’s biggest loss to Man City since 1999, which is saying a lot because Burnley’s lost 5–0 to Man City four times in the last five years alone.
What I’m about to say is completely untrue, because Sean Dyche was at the helm for all four of those five-goal losses, but I’m going to say it anyway. I am uncomfortable with Burnley trying to score goals. Again: Completely untrue, evidence really is going against me here, but it feels like the willingness to score leads to a great risk of being utterly wrecked. Bring back Mee & Tarkowski. The cost can’t be too high. Give me the Dycheball I know (until Burnley wins again next Friday and I start counting down the games ‘til they clinch the Championship).
**
More tomorrow. Lot going on out there in the world. And you need to know what NIT Stu thinks about it all.
