Did St. John's make the 2024 March Madness? Qualifying status of the Red Storm explored

For the St. John's Red Storm men`s basketball team, this season was full of ups and downs. They've had significant losing skids as well as winning streaks, though they did finish their regular season strong: winning six of their last seven games.

Only UConn stood in the way of them ending the year with a winning streak, but they gave the defending champs all they could in that final game. That said, were their efforts enough to see them through to the NCAA tournament? Read on to find the answer.

Did St. John`s make the 2024 NCAA tournament?

No, they didn't. In fact, they were one of the biggest snubs to this year's Big Dance, and Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino wasn't happy about it. Pitino seems to be more incensed about NET ratings, as he made abundantly clear in a recent interview, saying (via The New York Post):

“I think we all should probably never mention that word [NET] again because it’s fraudulent. I think the NET is something that shouldn’t even be mentioned anymore. I think we had a good strength of schedule [in] KenPom [rankings]. Why mention him? We tried to play a tough schedule, we tried to do things the right way, and we didn’t get in. But I never make excuses.”

Going back to the St. John's head coach's rant, it was also revealed in the aforementioned report that the Red Storm is now the team with the second-highest NET ranking ever (32) to miss March Madness. The team with the dubious honor of being number 1 was South Carolina back in 2019.

St. John`s NCAA tournament history

So far, St. John`s has appeared in 30 NCAA tournaments over the years. In all those appearances, the Red Storm went as far as the national title game in 1952. Their other deep runs were two Final Four appearances (1952 and 1955), six Elite Eights (1951, 1952, 1979, 1985, 1991, 1999), and nine Sweet Sixteens (1951, 1952, 1967, 1969, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1999).

Their last stint in March Madness, however, was back in 2019. They were hoping to find success this year, with the hiring of Rick Pitino as head coach.

Who is favored to win March Madness 2024?

With the final bracket for March Madness 2024 now out, pundits believe that defending champs UConn Huskies are favorites to win it all again this year. If they do, they`d be the first team since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back national championships.