Even as the wins have piled up and St. John’s has soared to the top of the Big East, notching its best record through 21 games since the 1985-86 season, there has been a but and a question mark.
There was a celebration on the MSG floor when the clock hit triple zeroes and St. John’s had escaped with a victory Saturday afternoon. Inside the Johnnies locker room, though, Rick Pitino took the glass half-empty approach.
Kadary Richmond kept them afloat early when nobody could get anything to fall and sank the game-winning shot with three seconds to go, powering the 15th-ranked Johnnies to a dramatic 68-66 victory over Providence at the Gardem.
As Deivon Smith continued to rest his bruised right shoulder, Richmond picked up the slack, setting the tone in No. 15 St. John’s 66-41 blitzing of Georgetown at Capital One Arena.
Rick Pitino’s window may be closing, as he said during an interview with Fox Sports over the weekend, but it doesn’t sound like it will be shut when this season is complete.
The Scarlet Knights were ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll for the second time since 1979. They entered the season with two players projected to be selected in the first five picks of this year’s NBA Draft, and those players — Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper — have mostly lived up to the hype.
The Post spoke to three notable Johnnie about the current state of the program, which is off to its best start through 20 games at 17-3 since the 1989-90 season.
