St. John’s men’s basketball head
coach Rick Pitino said something this week that undoubtedly gave UConn fans a reason
to react.
Pitino, the Naismith Basketball
Hall of Fame coach, said this to NJ.com about the upcoming Big East season:
"Connecticut and St. John's
are not the favorites," Pitino said.
"If I had to pick, I'd pick
Marquette one."
The same Marquette, which
finished 12-20 overall and 7-13 in the conference, last season? The same Golden
Eagles who had a winning percentage of .375 – one of only two seasons in the 17-season NCAA career of head coach Shaka Smart with a sub-.550 percentage?
UConn and St. John's at the top
The conference has been
dominated by UConn and St. John’s the past three seasons, and the schools have
developed a rivalry since Pitino took over the Red Storm before the
start of the 2023-24 season. In that time, St. John’s is 81-25 with
back-to-back Big East regular-season and tournament championships.
In the past three seasons, head
coach Dan Hurley’s UConn squad is 95-20 with two Final Four appearances and a
national championship, as well as one Big East regular season and tournament
championship titles.
The Golden Eagles are 62-41 overall
in that span, but did pull off a huge win against UConn in the final game of the
2025-26 regular season, 68-62.
GENERATING!⚡️🔋
8-0 run by @royceparham!!
MU leads 49-45. TO UConn.#MUBB | Watch on FOX pic.twitter.com/88RaAJLk7l
— Marquette Men’s Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) March 7, 2026
Could Marquette really win the Big
East?
Why not?
The college basketball season is
so long, with inevitable twists and turns. Delays caused by the snowy weather that
isn’t uncommon in the Big East footprint can disrupt travel plans and throw off
a team’s rhythm. And injuries don’t discriminate. A team’s star can incur a season-ending injury just the same as the ninth player in the rotation.
In other words, much has to go
just right for a team to win conference championships.
Pitino, in the NJ.com interview,
issued a reminder that Marquette will return three of the five starters who
defeated the Huskies on March 7.
Chase Ross and Ben Gold were
lost to graduation but the others – sophomore guards Nigel James Jr. and Adrien
Stevens, along with junior forward Royce Parham – all return.
They
combined to average 36.8 points per game, nearly half of the Golden Eagles’ team
average of 75.2 points.
Hurley and Pitino both lost key
contributors from their teams, starting with three NBA first-round draft picks:
UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. (No. 26 overall) and Alex Karaban (No. 29) as well as
St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor (No. 23). Both coaches restocked via the transfer portal.
Wait and see
Early predictions from a couple
of the best-known NCAA men’s basketball experts project UConn and St. John as
the top two teams in the Big East. It will be interesting to see the preseason
poll results and to hear from other coaches in the league closer to the start
of the season.
Marquette has the most recent
experience as a Big East champion, aside from the Huskies and Red Storm.
St. John’s won the past two
seasons, with UConn the champ in 2023-24. Marquette won its second regular-season
title in 2022-23 and its first conference championship that same season.