Rick Pitino, St. John's Receive Head-Turning 2025-26 Prediction

The St. John's Red Storm and head coach Rick Pitino made waves during the 2024-25 college basketball season. Looking ahead to the future, St. John's appears to be a team to watch as a potential national championship contender.

Last season, Pitino led the Red Storm to an impressive 31-5 record. He took them on a run to the NCAA Tournament.

As a No. 2 seed in the tournament, St. John's started off with a first round win over Omaha. Following the big win, Pitino and company came up short against John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks. That loss ended their season.

Looking ahead to the 2025-26 college basketball season, the Red Storm are receiving a lot of hype. A new ranking has been released that shows the hype clearly.

In a column on FanDuel, Jon Rothstein reveled his early rankings. He has Pitino's team coming in at No. 3 on the list.

Pitino did have some key losses throughout the offseason. RJ Luis was the biggest loss, while other players left as well. Those other players are Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, Aaron Scott, and Simeon Wilcher.

To replace the talent that left the program, St. John's brought in players as well. Joson Sanon, Bryce Hopkins, Oziyah Sellers, Ian Jackson, Dillon Mitchell, Imran Suljanovic, Dylan Darling, Handje Tamba, and Kelvin Odih have all joined the team and will look to take the Red Storm to the next level.