Rick Pitino is just not blissful at St. John’s.
The longtime basketball coach laid into his Pink Storm workforce and the St. John’s athletic division on Sunday after they fell to Seton corridor 68-62 at UBS Enviornment. The Pink Storm blew an early 19-point lead and shot simply shy of 34% from the sector as a workforce whereas committing 15 turnovers. It marked their third straight loss and eighth of their final 10 video games.
Whereas the season, Pitino’s first with this system, isn’t even over but, he sounds fully carried out.
“That is essentially the most unenjoyable expertise of my lifetime,” he mentioned, “This has been so disappointing.”
Pitino has been teaching all through the faculty basketball world for many years now, and he’s seen loads of dangerous groups in his profession. He was employed at St. John’s forward of the season after a profitable three-year stint at Iona, which marked his first job again within the sport after his tumultuous exit from Louisville in 2017.
However Pitino appeared to take photographs at all people he might on Sunday, together with the college’s athletic division.
“Do now we have sh***y services? Sure, we do,” Pitino mentioned. “However we’re doing one thing about that. However that’s not the explanation we’re shedding. Having sh***y services has nothing to do with guarding.”
Pitino additionally referred to as his gamers out straight, some by title, and mentioned that they’re “so unathletic that we are able to’t guard anyone with out fouling.”
“Joel [Soriano]’s sluggish laterally, he’s not quick on the courtroom,” Pitino mentioned. “Chris Ledlum is sluggish laterally, Sean Conway’s sluggish laterally. Brady [Dunlap’s] bodily weak, Drissa [Traore] is sluggish laterally.”
The 71-year-old coach additionally blamed his employees’s “misplaced” recruiting efforts for his or her struggles. He added 12 new gamers at St. John’s after taking the job, although he’s clearly pondering he focused the improper sort of participant.
“We type of misplaced this season with the way in which we recruited,” he mentioned. “We recruited the antithesis of the way in which I coach. It’s an excellent group, they struggle laborious, however they’re simply not very powerful … It’s not the job. You may be at Missouri and recruit sluggish gamers. Consider me, it’s not St. John’s.
“We needed to put collectively a workforce on the final second. We’ll by no means, ever try this once more.”
St. John’s has 5 video games left within the common season earlier than the Large East event, beginning with a matchup with Georgetown on Wednesday. The Pink Storm maintain a 14-12 file headed into that contest and sit in ninth within the Large East, forward of solely Georgetown and DePaul. These two groups have received only a single convention sport between them this season.
“I’ve been disillusioned your entire 12 months,” he mentioned. “I’m certain [Georgetown coach] Ed Cooley is disillusioned. I’m certain the DePaul coach is disillusioned. While you lose, all people’s disillusioned.”
For Pitino, it seems like March — particularly the top of it — can’t come quickly sufficient.
