00:00Another great night for the second year in a row after the Big East Tournament.
00:03I'm standing here with Zach Braziller, and it's a happy night for St. John's fans
00:07because they won their second consecutive Big East Tournament title.
00:1072-52, a dominant win over the UConn Huskies, Dexter Henry, Zach Braziller.
00:15Now, hey, Zach said that he needed the St. John's fans to show up.
00:20They showed up. There was a lot of UConn fans in the building, but they showed up.
00:24This was a dominant win, Zach. We talked about this yesterday.
00:26You expected this to be a close game.
00:28Were you shocked at the final score being what it was and how this game played out?
00:32Before we start, I picked St. John's to win this tournament in the paper,
00:35so let's give him some credit.
00:36Let's put some respect on Zach saying he did pick them to win.
00:39Yes, now the floor is yours again.
00:41Yeah, the start stunned me, 23-9 out of the gate.
00:46UConn then gets to 7 in the second half, and then St. John's basically made him top out.
00:51The 13-0 run, it's a 23-point lead.
00:54Zuby was absolutely awesome.
00:57And Dylan Mitchell, Bryce Hopkins, Dylan Darling late.
01:00Ozai Sellers gave them good minutes.
01:03I mean, this looked like a team, these three days, this looked like a team capable of going very far
01:09in the tournament.
01:10Ooh, we're going to get to how far, but that's a statement.
01:12Like, when you look at what they, now, unless you're going to tell me UConn's overrated, which I still think
01:18UConn's a very good team.
01:19What they did to UConn today was incredibly impressive.
01:22No, it was absolutely impressive, and after the game they talked about how impressive of a victory this just was.
01:27Well, we never mentioned revenge, because we have so much respect for Connecticut.
01:31We just talked about championship.
01:34This is a championship.
01:35It doesn't matter who we're playing.
01:36It's a championship at stake.
01:38You guys get a chance to be part of history.
01:41It's a championship.
01:41It's another night to get better and improve.
01:44And we did.
01:45We improved every single game.
01:47We got better.
01:48Remember, we were struggling.
01:49Come back against Xavier.
01:51Come back against Butler.
01:52Come back against Seton Hall.
01:53We're always trailing, and we came out, the ball went up, and three straight nights, we didn't relent at all.
02:01And that's a great sign offensively and a great sign defensively going into the tournament.
02:06Okay, Zuby Ajifor, named the tournament's most outstanding player, but this game was insane for me defensively.
02:13Seven blocks, which is a Big East tournament final record, nine rebounds, three steals.
02:19I'll ask you this.
02:19We've seen this guy play a lot of good defense.
02:21Was this the best defensive game you've ever seen him play, particularly in a big-time spot?
02:25Yeah, he set the tone early, where they didn't double Reed, which I thought was really smart.
02:30Because that's how UConn gets a lot of their threes.
02:33And I thought it was really smart.
02:34And I think it was like the first three or four times Reed got the ball in the post, he
02:37didn't score.
02:38He did a really good job.
02:39And Reed still scored his points.
02:41I think he had finished at 17.
02:43But he had to really work for his points.
02:45He wasn't efficient.
02:46And yeah, Zuby was great.
02:47He avoided fouling.
02:50He had to block shots.
02:51It was a masterpiece how well he played tonight.
02:55No, he was fantastic.
02:56I think it was one of the best defensive games we ever saw from him.
02:58Zuby talked about that after the game.
03:00You know, every time I go out there, I just try to compete at a high level and do whatever
03:04it takes to come out successful.
03:07You know, on the defensive end, on the offensive end and do whatever it takes, like I said, to come
03:12out to win.
03:12But these guys, I mean, they competed all game.
03:14And then on this 30 assignment, you know, we had to set the tone early against UConn because they're such
03:19a great program.
03:19So we set the tone early, you know, like we did, you know, pretty much all tournament.
03:23But we had to be resilient, you know, to come out with a win like this.
03:27And these guys did that.
03:28Zach, when you look at this and them winning this championship, there's no way to not think about this and
03:34look at what Rick Pitino has done here in the last three years.
03:37How huge has his impact been on this program?
03:40Because, you know, you've covered this team for years.
03:42You've seen St. John's teams that were not good.
03:44This is arguably a golden era of St. John's basketball in this three-year span.
03:48And how huge is the impact of Rick Pitino on what he's been able to accomplish in the last three
03:53years?
03:53Yeah, I think people had really high expectations when he came.
03:55But I don't think anyone would have imagined back-to-back outright Big East titles in both the regular season
04:01and the conference.
04:01Now there's only one thing left for them to do.
04:03They've got to go on a March run, get out of the first weekend.
04:06You know, last year was a magical year.
04:08And this year was different because this year is a slow start.
04:10There were incredibly high expectations.
04:12And this team is 19-1 since January 3rd, which is incredible.
04:17And to me, this is a better accomplishment than last year because they didn't really have an equal in the
04:24league last year.
04:25You know, UConn was down.
04:27Creighton was decent.
04:28But there wasn't a team that was on their level.
04:31This year, a lot of people thought UConn was better.
04:33And they still might be maybe a better team.
04:36But St. John's beat them 2-3.
04:38And the rubber game here in this building, with all the UConn fans, they love to call this place Storrs
04:42South.
04:44They bludgeoned them tonight.
04:46I mean, 52 points, a season low for UConn, in winning time, in crunch time, St. John's obliterated them.
04:55It was, tonight was stunning.
04:57I don't think there's any other way to say it.
04:59I came in thinking, I would have been shocked if St. John's won, but I did not expect this.
05:04No, I didn't expect it either.
05:06And, you know, you would think, coming off the 30-point loss in Hartford, that you were there for, you
05:12thought it would be about revenge.
05:13But Rick Pitino said this was not about revenge when it came to this matchup, the third one, against UConn.
05:19There's so much history with St. John's, and we brought it all back in three years.
05:25Not only with a high ranking, but the first time in the history of the school to win back-to
05:30-back regular season, back-to-back tournaments.
05:33But I told the guys in the locker room, I said, you know, the one thing I always want, obviously
05:40every coach wants to see the team get better and to peak at the right time.
05:43But I want to see the individuals get better.
05:46And these four guys all got a lot better as the season went along.
05:51Zuby has taken it from a guy that came in without a lot of confidence to now one of the
05:57great leaders in the game that I've ever coached.
05:59Bryce Hopkins has got significantly better.
06:02And I told Dylan and Bryce going into this, if you guys don't dominate, we can't win this game.
06:08And they both played unbelievable.
06:11Zuby has been consistent from the summer to now.
06:15Gotten a lot better defense, but they've all gotten significantly better at a lot of stages of their careers, which
06:22is great for our coaching staff.
06:25And for me personally, being a New Yorker and seeing the thrills of our fans and seeing the thrills of
06:31the team means a great deal to me.
06:34I think the big question on the mind of a lot of St. John's fans now is, okay, we've seen
06:39how this team has played.
06:4019-1 since January, right?
06:43Dominant run, dominated here in the biggest tournament.
06:45What does all this mean for St. John's chances of the seed they could potentially get in the NCAA tournament,
06:51which we will find out tomorrow?
06:53Yeah, it's going to be interesting because there are a lot of teams with really good resumes that, you know,
06:59played well.
07:00Like Vanderbilt, a team that maybe you could have jumped, they beat Florida today.
07:03So I still think they have â I'm going to say four.
07:08To me, the fact that they were so decisive today, they're 19 of 20.
07:14You know, their resume metrics are around 14 or 15, which is really good.
07:19I'm going to say they get a four.
07:20I won't be shocked if it's a five.
07:23You know, you also have to look at the other teams.
07:26Last year's team resume probably is like a three or four seed.
07:28They wouldn't have been a two seed if they had the resume this year.
07:32So, you know, St. John's fans, if you're a five, don't get upset.
07:35It's just the nature of the league was down and there's some really, really, really good resumes.
07:41But it doesn't really matter.
07:43The way this team â this team plays like they did in this tournament, they're going to go far.
07:47Yeah, that's the thing.
07:48I talked to Mark Jackson about this after the game.
07:50He thinks this team can go really far.
07:53Fans were believing â now they might start believing national championship.
07:56You talk about people getting mad.
07:56People can always be mad, Zach.
07:58Let's get to a Sweet 16.
07:59They haven't been to a Sweet 16 in 99.
08:01Let's take it slow.
08:02Take it slow.
08:03People are â you're going to take it slow.
08:05Step by step.
08:06Step by step.
08:06They've got to get to a Sweet 16.
08:09Yeah.
08:09Step by step.
08:10I'm just saying you know people are not going to take it slow.
08:12That's all I'm saying.
08:13I agree with you.
08:14You don't have to take it slow.
08:15All right, last thing before we get out of here.
08:17Can we try to put a little bit of this season into perspective, right?
08:21You look back at the season.
08:22You talked about how it was different from last year.
08:24I remember us talking last year after this Big East tournament title game,
08:28and you said this was a really special season with the way everything went.
08:32But do you think this team has the capability to go further than last year's team
08:37with everything they've accomplished this season, with the non-conference play being sort of mid or meh,
08:42and then this 19-1 stretch?
08:43Do you think this team has the ability to really have that deep run in, dare I say, Elite 8
08:47and beyond?
08:48Yeah, you know, I felt like this for a while because they have more size.
08:51They have more shooting.
08:53I mean, if you're going to see this Bryce Hopkins, I mean, look out.
08:57I mean, he was awesome in the tournament.
08:59Dylan Mitchell's playing great.
09:01Obviously, you have Zuby.
09:02Uzziah Sellers is now starting to make shots after kind of a funk.
09:05Yeah, I mean, I think it's the guys who they're a better shooting team than last year, and they have
09:10more size.
09:10You know, as good as last year's team was, they were small outside of Zuby.
09:15And so this team has size.
09:17Yeah, look, you never know.
09:18You've got to see the draw.
09:19You don't know what is going to be, you know, who you're going to run into.
09:22Weird stuff happens.
09:23But, yeah, I do think this team has a higher ceiling.
09:25And like I said, the fact that this team was where it was after January 3rd, 9-5,
09:31and it was wonder if they can make the tournament, just says a lot about Patino, Steve Masiello,
09:36the entire coaching staff, and the character they have on this team,
09:39that they were able to put a disappointing start to the season behind them and do this.
09:43Yeah, they did, and you saw the joy from a lot of the players, the coaching staff,
09:46as they were able to cut down the nets right behind us earlier here at Madison Square Garden.
09:51But St. John's, huge win, 72-52 over the UConn Huskies, dominant fashion.
09:56It was surprising.
09:57You know what else was surprising?
09:58I expected something from you today.
10:00You said you expected the St. John's fans to show up.
10:03And St. John's fans showed up for the most part.
10:05We've been asking for this for a couple years.
10:07I thought you were going to bring out the white blazer.
10:09I thought you were going to do that for me.
10:11It's a special game, big game, no white blazer?
10:13Is it possible we see this during the NCAA tournament?
10:17No.
10:17Okay, guys, I've tried.
10:18I've tried to get Zach in the white blazer.
10:20Myself and Steve Serving, we've tried a few years.
10:23Look, there were a lot of UConn fans, but no, I thought St. John's fans showed up.
10:26I knew.
10:27They, you know, they showed up.
10:31Tickets were very expensive, and yeah.
10:32You know, you really heard them in that second half.
10:35Oh, yeah.
10:35You really heard them.
10:37I mean, I think I heard a Zuby.
10:39We've heard Zuby chants probably about 15 times tonight.
10:41Yeah.
10:41They did a good.
10:42They stepped up.
10:43Give them credit.
10:44After, maybe last night wasn't great.
10:45Give them credit.
10:46They showed up, and they were here at the end cheering on their team, and they'll be cheering
10:50some more.
10:50We'll find out where St. John's will be seated on Selection Sunday.
10:54Zach Brazile, he will be all on top of that.
10:55We'll have a lot more coverage coming for you with St. John's basketball.
10:59From a great night at the Garden, I'm Dexter Henry.
11:01He's Zach Brazile.
11:02We'll see you soon.
11:06We'll see you soon.
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