The NCAA Tournament‘s Sweet 16 features some intriguing matchups, with all four of the games from the East Region drawing significant attention due to the coaches and teams involved.
One game features Dan Hurley’s UConn Huskies battling Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans. The warm-up for that Friday night double feature will be St. John’s, coached by college basketball legend Rick Pitino, against the Duke Blue Devils, coached by the newest coach of the four East teams, Jon Scheyer.
However, Scheyer’s Blue Devils are the top overall seed in this year’s Big Dance, and despite injuries, still have future NBA Draft pick Cameron Boozer on a talented roster. They’ll contend with a physical St. John’s squad featuring underrated player Zuby Ejoifor.
Pitino’s Red Storm reached this stage of the tournament after a thrilling buzzer-beater win against Kansas in the second round. Dylan Darling’s final-second layup put St. John’s ahead and delivered a crushing loss for Bill Self, Darryn Peterson, and the Jayhawks.
Read more: Dan Hurley Addresses His ‘Pretty Good’ Behavior for UConn Ahead of Sweet 16
Before his team departed from St. John’s campus to head to Washington, D.C., for their Sweet 16 game, Pitino addressed Red Storm fans waiting outside of Carnesecca Arena to cheer on the team.
“Thank you for your support the entire year, especially today. Our flight’s a little late, which is not a big deal. We’re so excited to be playing the number one team in the country, Duke. The five seed never bothered us. We never even talked about it, because we were very confident it didn’t matter, no matter who we were gonna play, we were gonna get a victory,” Pitino told the crowd
He praised the four great teams that will compete at the Sweet 16 before turning his attention to his players’ recent performances in practice.
“Our guys are ready for it, they’ve had good practices. Our second unit has killed the first unit two days in a row, so they’re excited about that and they let them know it,” he said, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
Pitino thanked the fans again, reminding everyone that two years in a row they won the Big East Tournament and regular-season championship, before heading to the NCAA Tournament. The St. John’s coach called it “super difficult to do.”
“Special group of guys, and we’re very excited to get to D.C.,” he said, before ending with, “Thank you all so much.”
They’ll face a tough Duke Blue Devils squad that has only lost twice all season. Despite a first-round scare from the No. 16 seed Siena Saints, who had them on upset watch into the second half, Duke responded by defeating No. 9 TCU 81-58 in the second round.
A win for St. John’s would put them in the Elite Eight against either UConn or Michigan State, with the winner advancing to the Final Four. During his coaching tenure, Pitino previously led Providence to the Final Four, Kentucky three times, and Louisville three times, achieving a championship apiece with Kentucky and Louisville.
However, Pitino has yet to bring St. John’s there during his three years as head coach, which could make this an extra special March Madness for him and this Red Storm team.
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