Everything Rick Pitino said ahead of St. John’s matchup against Duke

Opening statement

We’re excited to be at the home of Georgetown. We’ve been here before. I think the Sweet 16, we’ve had as much fun as any team could have in a tournament.

It’s been a tremendous season with great guys that give it to me every single day. We’ve had a lot of laughs, a lot of great spirit behind this season.

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Really looking forward to a great game against a team that quite frankly I’ve not seen since 51, 52 years in this game, never seen a schedule like that in my coaching career. Not only the strong ACC, but they’ve played almost everybody in the Sweet 16. They’ve played Michigan, Michigan State, Arkansas, Florida is out, but they played Florida, they played Texas Tech. It’s an amazing schedule that they played.

Still basically a few blemishes, but only a couple games. It’s quite a testament to the basketball team and their staff that they not only played that type of schedule, but to be victorious. We know we’re playing a great team.

Q. I know you’re focused on the Sweet 16 obviously. I want to ask you a little bit of a bigger picture question. The opening round of the NCAA tournament set a TV viewership record at a time that the NBA is battling a narrative that the product is less watchable. Your perspective on why you think fan interest in the NBA seems to be waning while the interest in college basketball is at an all-time high?

RICK PITINO: I think the resurgence of St. John’s (smiling).

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I really don’t know why. I wouldn’t give you an intelligent answer. I don’t know why.

Q. This is going to sound like I’m being snarky, but I’m not. This game can frustrate you. After all these years, why do you keep doing it? What do you love about it? Everyone says we love coaching, but what is it that you actually love?

RICK PITINO: I think because I spent two years without it, I think the lifestyle that I was leading was certainly, I shouldn’t complain about it. But I just missed it every single day I was out of it. So I realized there’s no reason…

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Publish date : 2026-03-26 17:43:00

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