| This is why, warts and all, St. John's went out and hired Rick Pitino, who moved ever closer to sealing an NCAA Tournament bid for the 24th time with his sixth different program.
After upending Seton Hall in the Big East tournament Thursday at MSG, the Red Storm solidified their chance to go dancing for the first time since 2019 — former star Chris Mullin's final year on the bench before four nondescript years under Mike Anderson (68-56) led to Pitino's hiring barely one year ago.
St. John's (20-12) will face top-seeded UConn on Friday night in their first trip to the conference semis since 2000, and they suddenly are riding a six-game winning streak since Pitino publicly laced into his players following a Feb. 18 loss to Seton Hall.
"This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime," Pitino said then.
Not so much anymore.
The 71-year-old hoops Hall of Famer knows what he's talking about and doing at this time of year. The bracketologists have to believe the Johnnies should be rewarded for this strong finish and a 12-9 record in Big East play.
 St. John's would be the sixth different school Rick Pitino gets to the NCAA Tournament.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Pitino has been to seven Final Fours and won a pair of NCAA championships, one each at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013).
After he was dismissed at Louisville in 2017 after an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption, Pitino came back to college coaching with Iona in 2020. The Gaels reached the Big Dance twice in three seasons, before he was tasked with reviving a St. John's program that hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. The school has made only three NCAA appearances over the past two decades.
Pitino also reached the NCAA Tournament earlier in his coaching career with Boston University (my alma mater!) and Providence, leading the Friars to the Final Four during the Big East's heyday in 1987.
Such an extended run might be too much to ask in his first year in Queens, but at least it's a possibility.
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Snell's like team spirit Even with the double-whammy news of Gerrit Cole's delayed start to the season and Dylan Cease's trade to the Padres, the Yankees still don't appear to be in any rush to sign two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who remains a free agent as Opening Day rapidly approaches.
The Post reported Thursday night that it is believed Cole will be able to avoid Tommy John surgery after a second medical opinion validated that he does not have a torn UCL in his right elbow.
Cole, last year's AL Cy Young recipient, is slated to miss one to two months "or perhaps just a bit more" while getting rest and rehab with non-surgical treatments.
 Gerrit Cole's absence to begin the season leaves an ace-sized hole in the Yankees pitching rotation.
AP
Even with Cole, the Yankees could have used another frontline starter in 2024, which is why they remained engaged with the White Sox on Cease before their latest offer this week was rejected in favor of a four-player package from the Padres that included former pinstriped pitching prospect Drew Thorpe.
I don't get the trepidation with Snell, even if the 31-year-old lefty's two Cy Young years — 2018 with the Rays and last year with the Padres — have been his only two star-caliber performances over eight MLB seasons.
Snell also underwent an elbow arthroscopy in 2019 and endured a rocky follow-up (6-8, 4.29) after earning his first Cy Young hardware.
Still, he is one of only seven pitchers in history to cop the award in each league, joining Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.
Yes, Snell led the majors in walks last season with 99, but his 5.8 hits per nine innings also was the best in baseball, as was his 2.25 ERA over 180 innings.
 Blake Snell, who won his second career Cy Young Award after the 2023 season, is still available to any team that can match his asking price.
Getty Images
Former Yankee Jordan Montgomery, also a Scott Boras client, remains available, too.
Either could be an ideal No. 2 starter when Cole is ready to return, and they are capable in the meantime of fronting a rotation followed by Marcus Stroman (who turned down the chance to start on Opening Day), Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes and Clarke Schmidt.
Reading the minutes The Knicks reasonably withstood the absence of OG Anunoby — and others — by going 8-10 in the 18 games he missed while somehow holding onto the No. 4 playoff position in the Eastern Conference through their 105-93 win late Thursday night in Portland to open a key four-game western trip.
Anunoby had 12 points and nine rebounds in his second game back following elbow surgery, though he later had to downplay a moment when he appeared to aggravate the elbow. Jalen Brunson piled up 45 points in his best outing since suffering a knee contusion on March 3.
Tom Thibodeau's team still is awaiting the returns of starting big men Julius Randle (shoulder) and Mitchell Robinson (ankle), and it will be interesting to see how rotation shapes up if they make it back before the end of the regular season.
 Tom Thibodeau played Josh Hart for 42.8 minutes per night over the first 10 games since the All-Star break.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
The minutes police is always monitoring Thibodeau's player usage, though, and the Knicks survived the Anunoby absence by squeezing heavy minutes out several expected role players: including Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Precious Achiuwa.
Still, for all of the outside criticism Thibodeau receives for playing guys into the ground, the Knicks only have two players in the top 20 in the league in minutes per game for the season.
Randle ranks 15th at 35.4 mpg and Jalen Brunson is 19th at 35.2.
The interesting thing will be how Thibodeau handles his preferred nine-man rotation when Randle and Robinson make it back. Jericho Sims was the easy deletion upon Anunoby's return in Tuesday's win over the 76ers with Achiuwa sliding to the second unit as the backup center to Isaiah Hartenstein.
Two more players will need to be dropped when the Knicks get back to full strength. The case easily could be made that Achiuwa and Miles McBride deserve to continue playing ahead of veterans Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, who entered Thursday's game with a combined shooting mark of 36.4 percent since their arrival together in a deadline trade with the Pistons.
What we're reading 👀 🏒 The Rangers squandered several leads in a 6-3 loss to the Lightning in Tampa. "The star power was on full display. There was clear animosity. It came down to the third period," writes The Post's Mollie Walker.
🏈 Saquon Barkley was introduced as a member of the Eagles — get used to it! — and finally issued a message of thanks to Giants fans.
🏈 The Post's Brian Costello breaks down how the Jets can approach filling their most pressing needs: at left tackle and No. 2 wide receiver.
⚾ The Mets are having talks about reuniting with J.D. Davis. But there are implications for young infielders Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.
🏀 The Knicks offered condolences after RJ Barrett's younger brother, Nathan, passed away.
🏈 Aaron Rodgers denied he's a Sandy Hook denier.
🏀 Ben Simmons had back surgery. Again.
🏒 The Islanders went splat in a shutout road loss to the Sabres, and they have the last-place Senators and first-place Rangers on tap this weekend.
⛳ Nothing better than a golf etiquette tiff. Rory McIlroy was in the middle of this one.
🎾 Carlos Alcaraz was stung on the face during a bee invasion at Indian Wells.
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