St. John's basketball left out of NCAA Tournament in Rick Pitino's first season

It was an agonizing an 18 hours a team could have on Selection Sunday, but the St. John's basketball team was ultimately left out of the NCAA Tournament field.

Many around the Red Storm program thought they would be in the tournament after it lost to UConn by five points in the Big East Tournament semifinals, and they were probably right before the bid stealers went crazy on Saturday.

Bids were stolen in the A-10, ACC, AAC, and PAC-12, which kept the Johnnies out of the field.

Rick Pitino was looking to lead a team to the NCAA Tournament via an at-large bid during his first season at the program for the first time in his career. The only time Pitino has reached the dance in his first year at a school was his first season at Iona, when the Gaels won the MAAC Tournament.

St. John's has not received a bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, when it was the last team in the field under Chris Mullin.

The Red Storm won its last six games before falling to UConn, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, on Friday night.

Seton Hall and Providence, also on the bubble from the Big East, did not make the field either.

The league only earned three bids with Marquette, Creighton, and the Huskies.

Boise State, Colorado, Virginia, and Colorado State were selected over St. John's, who wasn't even one of the First Four Out.

The Red Storm finished with a NET of 32, the highest ever to be left out of the field and combined record Quad 1 & 2 record of 10-12 and 10-1 in Quad 3 & 4 games.

The transfer portal officially opens on Monday and St. John's is expected to be very active in trying to fill the various holes on its roster.