The college basketball world has big expectations for Rick Pitino going into his first season as coach at St. John’s.
Returning to the Big East after three seasons at Iona, Pitino is hoping to lift the Red Storm to the success he achieved at Kentucky, Louisville and his first Big East stop, Providence. His teams regularly qualify for the NCAA tournament, and seven of his squads have advanced to the Final Four.
Pitino also has two national championships on his résumé, cutting down the nets in 1996 and 2013. (However, the ’13 title with the Cardinals was vacated by the NCAA as a result of an escort scandal involving recruits.) He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in ’13.
