"We have won back-to-back championships with two different teams, and that's not easy to do. There's been one common denominator and that's [Ejiofor]. The greatness of this St. John's 'first' is magnified by it occurring in an era in which the NCAA transfer portal is so key in team building. The Red Storm brought back only Zuby Ejiofor from last season's starting five."
"I'm real proud for St. John's [and] very proud for the players. It was a great win and the Big East Tournament's a lot of fun, but the regular season means the most because that's your body of work for the entire year."
"It's not easy. It takes everybody committed to one main goal in winning, and I think we did a really special thing tonight."
St. John's clinched the Big East regular-season title outright after defeating Seton Hall 72-65 on Friday night, with Connecticut's loss to Marquette on Saturday confirming the Red Storm as sole champions. This marks the second consecutive outright Big East regular-season title for St. John's, making them the first school to accomplish this since Villanova won four consecutive titles in 2016-17. The achievement is particularly notable given the modern transfer portal era, as St. John's retained only Zuby Ejiofor from last season's starting lineup. Coach Rick Pitino emphasized the difficulty of winning back-to-back championships with different rosters, highlighting Ejiofor as the common denominator. St. John's enters the Big East Tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Read at Newsday
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