In his five-decade-long career, Rick Pitino has worked with some of the biggest college basketball programs in the country. Right now, he’s with the St. John’s Red Storm, a team he joined in 2023.
Pitino’s first season with the Red Storm was disappointing, going 20-13 overall and 11-9 in the conference. In the next two seasons, he has taken his team to the NCAA Tournament. The Red Storm will face the Duke Blue Devils tomorrow in the Sweet 16 round.
During a recent media interaction, Pitino shed light on how much the college basketball landscape has changed over the years. He said the Blue Bloods, the elite group of NCAA Division I programs that boast all the trophies and historical dominance, no longer control the game.
There are several teams that are considered Blue Bloods, including Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA, and Duke. In recent years, UConn has also been added to the elite group due to their continued dominance.
Pitino believes that it’s great for the sport and every other college program that those teams no longer dominate like they used to, as it gives more space to other programs to excel.
“The fact that the Blue Bloods no longer control basketball. There’s no difference between Kentucky and North Carolina and Illinois and St. John’s. There’s no difference anymore,” Pitino said.
The Red Storm head coach also included Michigan State in the Blue Blood group and said that there’s no difference between them and a team from Mississippi, especially when they get on a hot streak.
While Pitino likes the current state of college basketball, he acknowledged that Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina will always carry their rich legacies and be really good teams. Overall, he’s happy that other programs now also get their time to shine.
Rick Pitino Isn’t Thinking About Retirement
Even at the age of 73, Pitino is showing no signs of slowing down. He has had his fair share of health struggles over the years, but he is right where he wants to be. Pitino recently talked about his lifestyle that revolves around basketball.
“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,” he said. “So, I realized there’s no reason to try and get out because I knew how much I missed it.”
There have been some rumors about his retirement lately, but based on his recent comment, Pitino is far from even thinking about bidding farewell to the game.
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