March Madness: St. John's players savor first NCAA Tournament appearance
St. John's Red Storm guard Aaron Scott puts up a shot past Creighton Bluejays forward Jackson McAndrew in the first half of the Big East Tournament final at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — For anyone who grew up with a basketball and a dream, playing in the NCAA Tournament is the pinnacle. One is playing their games on the sport’s biggest stages in an event that many consider the most exciting 20 sports days on the calendar. Winners cut down nets. Champions go to the White House.
Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott are at the end of their college eligibility. Both anticipated playing in the Big Dance, maybe more than once, and it hadn’t happened. Both looked at St. John’s and Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino and believed he could slake their thirst to stand on that big stage.
And finally, now, they will on Thursday night when the fifth-ranked and No. 2-seeded Red Storm (30-4) face No. 15 Omaha (22-12) in a West Region first-round game at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
They’re getting their first chance to dance in their last chance to play.
“I’m in a moment right now,” Scott said Wednesday. “Living the dream is much better than dreaming it.”
“I’m finally here and [going to] kind of soak it all in and try to achieve more,” Smith said. “You know, we’re here, now trying to kick the doors down and reach for everything . . . win another championship in a great season.”
The Red Storm have stood on some pretty big stages already, having won their first outright Big East championship in 40 years and their first Big East Tournament title in 25 before a sold-out Garden that was, as Pitino said, “Louder than I have ever heard it, even as a Knicks coach.”
But when he took over the program two years ago, Pitino said the success of a college program is measured in NCAA Tournaments. And the Storm players want more victories.
Scott went to North Texas and spent three seasons there, even helped the Mean Green win the 2023 NIT championship. But he knew something was missing and saw Pitino and the Storm as his best shot to get it.
Asked what was the biggest factor in his transfer to St. John’s, Scott replied, “Going to a coach with winning experience, because I wanted to get in the tournament. I knew it was my last year and I think that’s the best decision I’ve made.”
Smith’s route was more circuitous. He went to Mississippi State out of high school and the team went 18-15 while coping with occasional pandemic-related disruptions. He thought he had the answer when he transferred to ACC champion Georgia Tech but endured two losing seasons there. He was at Utah last season where the Utes won 22 games, including three in the NIT.
“Every year that’s the goal,” Smith said of the NCAA Tournament. “It’s the biggest stage. You know, everybody’s watching. That’s like, the only thing really going on . . . That’s kind of always been the dream.”
Did he believe that St. John’s and Pitino would be his best — and also last — shot?
“Definitely,” Smith said. “Honestly, I didn’t see us winning this many games and holding a record like we did, but we put it together, and we created a special group, and now we’re here.”
RJ Luis Jr. may also be playing in his first NCAA Tournament in his final college season. The Big East Player of the Year and AP and NABC second-team All-American will likely explore the NBA Draft whenever this season is over.
Asked if he felt a special reward in helping these players reach heights they hadn’t before, Pitino replied, “Without question.”
“To go through a career and not be part of March Madness is really difficult to any athlete, especially at the major level,” he added. “So for these guys to see Madison Square Garden packed — and they’re not from New York, they don’t know what Madison Square Garden really is about — and then to experience that the entire year, to win the Big East, to win the Big East Tournament . . . was an amazing feeling to them, and now they get to experience March Madness . . . It’s wonderful for them.”
All season, St. John’s has won in ways — tight, physical games — that galvanized this group to have an unquenchable will to win.
And Pitino has tried to coach the Storm over the past two weeks like they’ve been playing in NCAA Tournament games to acclimate them to the pressure ahead.
“A lot of big games down to the wire,” Smith said. “I think it shaped us for this moment.”
“As a freshman, I thought I’d make it all the time,” Scott said. “Then I figured out how hard winning actually is and how connected a team has to be. But I’m part of that now and I’ve got experience. It’s my first time in the tournament and I’m ready for it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
