St. John’s Red Storm: Rick Pitino Goes Nuclear On NET Rankings After Brutal March Madness Snub

The Red Storm are not going to dance in March and it’s not sitting right with the St. John’s Red Storm head coach, who showed no love at all for the NET rankings when reacting to the brutal fate of his team (h/t ESPN).

“First off, I think we should all probably never mention that word (NET) again because I think it’s fraudulent,” Pitino told SNY. “I think the NET is something that shouldn’t even be mentioned anymore.

Pitino then went on to cite KenPom, another analytics-driven site that ranks according to its own metrics, as proof that the Red Storm should have been among those preparing for the Big Dance. But despite St. John not getting a nod from the committee, Pitino said that he and his team will accept the decision and will not raise hell about it.

“I think that we had a good strength of schedule. KenPom, why mention him? We were 26th in KenPom. We tried to play a tough schedule. We tried to do things the right way, and we didn’t get in. But I never make excuses. I respect the committee for what they do. They give their time, they give their energy to it. They didn’t think we measured up to their standards, and we’ll take it very positively like men and move forward. We’re not going to gripe. We’re not going to say we got screwed.”

St. John’s has not made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but they seem to be in the right direction after winning 20 games overall and 11 victories in the Big East in the 2023-24 college basketball campaign.