Rick Pitino’s first season as head basketball coach at St. John’s is off to an up-and-down start. The Red Storm began the year with tough losses to Michigan and Dayton before the pendulum started to swing in their direction with strong wins over two good teams in North Texas and Utah.
They most recently defeated Holy Cross by 46.
Even though his team has seemingly been trending in the right direction, Pitino is not satisfied. He has essentially flipped the script on its head when it comes to his opinion of St. John’s basketball thus far.
Rick Pitino was very forgiving after the early losses and said that he was glad for the adversity. Now, after beating a bad team by a lot of points, there is no satisfaction.
The 71-year-old head coach was brutally honest about the Red Storm during a recent press conference. His outlook was not overwhelmingly positive.
I have to have patience because this is a team that, if you look at the metrics, it’s not good. The defense and the turnovers are not good.
— Rick Pitino
The comments were a bit of a surprise. St. John’s had been trending upward. It is finally healthy after dealing with a lot of injuries during the offseason.
Where Pitino could have focused on the positives, he was more concerned with the negatives and did not hold back.
From a defensive standpoint, they are way behind what I would have expected of them. They know nothing about defense — nothing at all. That’s disappointing to me.
— Rick Pitino
This is what Pitino does. In his mind, criticism is equally as important as praise. If not more so.
At the center of each of those judgements is one thing: honesty.
Rick Pitino is honest.
Pitino will never shy away from the truth. He will never shy away from speaking his mind and calling things how he sees them.
The two-time national champion understands that the only way to get better is by embracing reality. Then, and only then, can challenges be addressed head-on.
St. John’s will travel south to Morgantown and face West Virginia on Friday night. It’s a huge test for the Red Storm, especially with Big East play on the horizon. Pitino knows what is to come and hopes to address the issues now before they bubble up and pop later.
For us to get ready for the Big East, we’re going to need to improve defensively and we need to value the basketball better, and they know that. They are self-inflicted wounds that we must cure, but we are definitely getting better.
— Rick Pitino
Although it might sound harsh at times, it is a refreshing approach in an era where communication is often focused on pleasing others. Rather than dancing around a problem, Pitino wants to attack the problem at its core. With two titles under his belt, perhaps it would be best to listen!