When St. John’s fired Norm Roberts at the end of last season, many fans hoped that Rick Pitino would succeed him. And while there was little chance of that happening after the former Knicks coach’s incident with Karen Sypher came to light, he is high on the Red Storm in 2010-11.
In a poll among Big East coaches earlier this summer, the Louisville head coach voted St. John’s to finish first in the conference. When ESPN.com asked him why he voted that way, he said in a text message, “Nine seniors. Everyone but Pitt and Villanova lost key players.”
Pitino was the only one to vote the Red Storm on top, as the vast majority of the conference’s head coaches (13 of 16) voted either Villanova or Pittsburgh as the top team this season. St. John’s was picked as low as 13th by one of the coaches, and finished between sixth and ninth in the voting, which helped determine which teams would be matched up for home-and-home series. St. John’s was placed in Tier 3 with Pitino’s Cardinals, Notre Dame and Connecticut.
St. John’s will play Georgetown, Notre Dame and Cincinnati twice this season.