For the first time since the year 2000, the St. John's Red Storm are Big East champions. Rick Pitino's squad cruised past the Creighton Bluejays 82-66 on Saturday to capture the conference tournament title and cap a 30-4 regular season. St. John's has long since been a lock to make the NCAA Tournament, but now the question becomes: How high can the team climb in the seeding?
According to ESPN's noted bracketologist Joe Lunardi, St. John's earned a No. 2 seed by winning the Big East championship over Creighton. He has Auburn, Florida, Duke and Houston getting the four No. 1 seeds. His four projected No. 2 seeds are Michigan State, St. John's, Alabama and Tennessee. Lunardi then finished his update by saying five Big East teams will get in.
But that's not necessarily set in stone. As things stand heading into the final day of the conference tournaments, Lunardi has St. John's as the No. 8 overall seed as the No. 2 seed in the West Region featuring Florida as the No. 1 seed, Texas Tech as the No. 3 seed and Michigan as the No. 4 seed. The Texas Tech matchup could be rough, as the Red Raiders are the highest ranked No. 3 seed projected into the field by Lunardi now.
Here are the condensed scribblings of a mad man put out by Lunardi over on X on Saturday night.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 16, 2025
Yes, St. John's winning the Big East gave them the last No. 2 seed over a team like Texas Tech.
St. John's should get the last No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament
When it comes to Lunardi projecting that St. John's will get the last No. 2 seed over Texas Tech in March Madness, it probably has more to do with how far each Power Five team went in its respective conference tournament. While the Big 12 has been slightly better than the Big East this year, they are not separated by all that much. St. John's won its league, while Texas Tech did not even make the finals.
Although the SEC is going to get at least three quarters of its teams into the tournament, the league's domination in non-conference play is a trump card that most conferences cannot play. While this is a brutally bad year for the ACC, the Big East seems to be right where it needs to be. The interesting part is how much better the Red Storm have been since Pitino took over. Good or bad, he can coach ball!
Ultimately, you want to be a No. 4 seed or better entering the NCAA Tournament. While not all actually have it in them to win a national championship, that is usually a fairly strong cutoff point to those who have the potential to run the gauntlet. Is St. John's one of the four most likely teams to win the whole thing? No. How about eight? Potentially. What about 12? Now we are talking. They are right there, y'all.
Every tournament is different, but it is great to see a traditional power like St. John's back on top.