"St. John's was arguably the hottest team in the country over the final two months of the regular season. It won 19 of its final 20 games, had a key win against then-No. 3 UConn, then cruised to a second-straight Big East Tournament championship after clinching the regular-season title."
"I thought half the staff thought we were a 4 and I thought we were a 5, head coach Rick Pitino said. So I'm not surprised at the seeding. The first opponent that we'll play is very tough, and if you get to the second round, you're going to have a packed house, but it'll be all Kansas fans."
"It's not ideal traveling to the West Coast, but you deal with it, and you just make the best of it. This will be Pitino's 25th trip to the NCAA Tournament, and the second straight season he has done so with St. John's."
St. John's Red Storm finished the regular season as one of the country's hottest teams, winning 19 of their final 20 games and securing both the Big East regular-season and tournament championships. Despite this success and a No. 13 ranking, the selection committee awarded them a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Rick Pitino expressed mild surprise at the seeding but acknowledged the committee's reasoning. St. John's faces Northern Iowa in San Diego, with a potential second-round matchup against No. 4 Kansas. The East Regional includes No. 1 overall seed Duke, and Big East rival UConn also appears in the bracket. This marks Pitino's 25th NCAA Tournament appearance and second consecutive with St. John's after last year's 30-4 record and No. 2 seed resulted in a second-round upset loss to Arkansas.
#ncaa-tournament-seeding #st-johns-basketball #big-east-conference #rick-pitino #tournament-bracket-analysis
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