HARTFORD — Two months into the college basketball season, Naismith Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino says there is no dominant team in college basketball and referred to defending national champion UConn as “decent.”
“I think they’re a decent team, but I think everybody in the Big East is a decent team,” Pitino said after the Red Storm lost, 69-65, to No. 5 UConn at XL Center.
Pitino, in his first year at St. John’s, had previously referred to UConn as a “machine” and an “offensive machine” coming into Big East play. The Huskies (11-2, 1-1 Big East) went 10-1 in the non-conference, but will now be without 7-foot-2 sophomore big man Donovan Clingan for about a month with a foot injury.
Assessing the entire college basketball landscape, Pitino said:
“I haven’t seen a great team in college basketball yet,. Yet. They’re all….very good teams, all of them, but I haven’t seen a great team that I say, ‘God, can they play.’
“Now [No. 4] Arizona [on Saturday] lost to [No. 14] FAU. Anybody can lose.”
So far No. 3 Houston (12-0), No. 20 James Madison (12-0) and No. 25 Ole Miss (12-0) are the only teams that haven’t lost.
No. 1 Purdue (11-1) and No. 2 Kansas (11-1) — both of which are considered potential Final Four teams — each have one defeat.
No. 4 Arizona (9-2) has now dropped two of three — including one to Purdue — after ascending to the No. 1 position.
The Big East has three programs widely considered Final Four candidates in UConn, No. 6 Marquette and No. 12 Creighton and they all have multiple losses. Providence, which could be ranked on Monday, has two.
As for St. John’s, Pitino says his team should have won this game, but he likes the direction they are headed.
“We had this game, we should’ve won it, but we are growing,” he said.
“We are coming as a basketball team, we are coming. It should be a nice Christmas for these guys because they played their hearts out and they lost on the road to a decent team and you’re going to…
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