Big East Basketball

Two months after being hired as St. John's head basketball coach, Rick Pitino continues to add talent to his roster for the 2023-24 season.

Per ESPN's Jeff Borzello, Penn transfer Jordan Dingle has committed to the Red Storm after winning Ivy League Player of the Year for the 2022-23 campaign.

Pitino took over at St. John's on March 20 after spending three seasons at Iona. He's brought three transfers from the Gaels with him, which were Quinn Slazinski, Daniss Jenkins and Cruz Davis.

Oregon State's Glenn Taylor Jr. officially transferred to the Red Storm on May 2. Harvard Westlake forward Brady Dunlap signed his national letter of intent to play for the program on the same day.

Dingle is arguably the best player in this whole group. He's ranked as the No. 15 player in the transfer portal and a 4-star talent by 247Sports.

The 22-year-old has been a three-year starter at Penn from 2019-20 through 2022-23. (The 2020-21 Ivy League season was canceled as part of the conference's ban on winter sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Dingle has averaged more than 20 points per game in each of the past two seasons. He ranked second in the nation with 23.4 points per contest during the 2022-23 campaign.

The New York native also set career-highs in field-goal percentage (46.4), three-point percentage (35.6) and free-throw percentage (85.6) in 28 appearances for the Quakers last season.

It's not a surprise to see Pitino being able to bring in a lot of talent in a short amount of time. He's got a track record of sustained success throughout his career and has made NCAA tournament appearances with five different programs.

St. John's will be hoping for a quick turnaround after missing the NCAA tournament in each of the past four seasons. The Red Storm haven't won a tournament game since the 1999-2000 season.

Former head men's basketball coach Mike Anderson is suing St. John's University for $45.6 million alleging that the school fired him on false grounds.

According to ESPN's Myron Medcalf, Anderson alleges that St. John's fired him for cause in March so that it could avoid paying him a buyout and use the money toward hiring Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

In a notice of intention to arbitrate filed last month, Anderson said St. John's offered him a buyout worth less than the $11.4 million left on his contract and created "fictitious" violations against him so he could be fired for cause.

Medcalf reported that the termination letter filed by St. John's accused Anderson of "failure to create and support an environment that strongly encourages student-athletes who are in the men's basketball program to meet all university academic requirements," "failure to perform your duties and responsibilities in a manner that reflected positively on St. John's University ... in actions [that] brought serious discredit" to the school and "failure to appropriately supervise and communicate with your assistant coaches."

St. John's hired Pitino just 10 days after firing Anderson, reportedly giving him a six-year, $20 million contract.

The filing from Anderson and his lawyer, Michael J. Keane, cites the hypocrisy of firing Anderson for cause and then hiring Pitino, who was fired by the University of Louisville in 2017 for countless violations, including recruits being provided with escorts at on-campus parties.

Additionally, Anderson refutes allegations of players not reaching academic standards during his time at St. John's.

Anderson noted that St. John's won the Big East academic excellence award for the first time ever in 2020. He acknowledged grades dropping following the COVID-19 pandemic but denied that it had a negative impact on the program's Academic Progress Rate (APR).

Overall, Anderson is suing St. John's for $11.4 million for the money remaining on his deal before his firing, and for $34.2 million in punitive damages.

St. John's denied Anderson's "wildly inaccurate claims" in a statement:

In four seasons with Anderson at the helm, the Red Storm went 68-56 and failed to reach the NCAA tournament.

Anderson was previously the head coach at UAB, Missouri and Arkansas for 17 seasons overall, reaching the NCAA tourney on nine occasions.

Pitino, 70, has won 711 games in 35 seasons at Louisville, Kentucky, Hawaii, Boston University, Providence and Iona.

He has taken a program to the NCAA tournament's Final Four on seven occasions and won national titles in 1996 and 2013, although the 2013 title was vacated by the NCAA because of the violations at Louisville.

Ray Allen is a basketball Hall of Famer, two-time NBA champion and, now, a college graduate.

Allen earned his bachelor's degree from UConn on Sunday:

Joe Arruda of the Hartford Courant noted the basketball legend received his degree in General Studies. He started taking classes again in 2008 and dedicated more of his time to pursuing his degree during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When I was in school, there was a couple of RAs that were in their 30s and I thought, 'Wow, they're still in school. It's never too late to learn,'" Allen said.

"This day isn't about me, it's about the people that helped me along the way to finish this mission, be on this journey to graduate from college. And you got to do it by yourself but it's made up of a lot of people around you, so I didn't want it to be about me walking in and everybody, you know. These kids are on their individual journeys, so I was so inspired to be sitting next to them and talking to them."

Allen played for the Huskies for three seasons from 1993-96 and was an All-American, Big East Player of the Year and two-time All-Big East selection during his collegiate career. He averaged 19.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 44.8 percent from deep across the three seasons.

He remains the only UConn men's basketball player with a retired jersey.

He was the No. 5 overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft and played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat during his career. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2018.

Who among us hasn't had their phone number revealed by lip readers after being featured as part of a celebrity montage at Madison Square Garden?

That is exactly what happened to St. John's men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, who was on hand to watch the New York Knicks host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. Pitino was captured on camera giving out his phone number, and some viewers were able to make it out.

Pitino had some fun with the situation and ended up changing his number:

The high-profile coach has been busy this offseason since moving from Iona to his new position.

Michael Blinn of the New York Post noted he brought Quinn Slazinski, Daniss Jenkins and Cruz Davis over from Iona and added VMI transfer Sean Conway and UConn's Nahiem Alleyne. The additions are some of the early steps for a rebuilding project at St. John's, which has struggled of late.

The Red Storm have been to the NCAA men's tournament just once since 2014-15, and they lost in the First Four when they got there in 2018-19.

If anyone can turn it around, it is Pitino. After all, his resume includes two national titles, seven Final Four appearances, 14 conference tournament championships and 12 regular-season conference crowns.

And now one changed phone number because of a trip to Madison Square Garden.

Not every part of the parade honoring the UConn men's basketball team's national championship was something to celebrate.

At least not for U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

The Democrat revealed Saturday that he suffered a fractured femur when "a fellow parade goer tripped & fell on me during the parade today."

The next day, he tweeted that he underwent successful surgery for the "minor fracture" and began physical therapy.

The Associated Press noted that video revealed a man who was walking backward while carrying a camera bumped into Blumenthal, causing both to fall to the street. While the senator suffered the injury, he did finish the parade route.

It was something of a rare mishap for anything involving the Huskies.

After all, they steamrolled their way to a fifth national championship with double-digit victories in all six of their NCAA tournament games. Most were never in doubt throughout the majority of the contests, although San Diego State cut a daunting deficit to as few as five in the final six minutes of the national championship game.

To UConn's credit, it closed the game on a 16-4 run to secure the straightforward 76-59 victory.

Adama Sanogo (17 points and 10 rebounds) and Tristen Newton (19 points and 10 rebounds) each notched double-doubles in the win and helped their side overcome a strong San Diego State defense that propelled the Aztecs to within one game of their first national title in program history.

UConn figures to be among the nation's strongest teams again next season and will attempt to defend its crown.

If it does, Blumenthal will surely be more careful at the next parade.

Fresh off of helping lead UConn to its fifth national title Monday night, Huskies guard Jordan Hawkins announced Friday that he's entering the upcoming NBA draft.

Hawkins, 20, went on ESPN's NBA Today and told Malika Andrews about his decision while reflecting on his outstanding collegiate career.

"Hearing my name called on draft night will be a blessing," Hawkins said. "I worked so hard for this. Me and my dad, we've been through so much.

"When I first stepped on campus in Storrs, I was a little kid, just 160 pounds. I didn't know the college game. Coach [Dan] Hurley threw me into the fire. He guided me through it. It means the world for me having him, having this opportunity. He told me sophomore year I need to step my game up, make a name for myself. It's amazing what we did together as a team."

He made the appearance alongside UConn coach Dan Hurley.

Hawkins enters the draft following a terrific sophomore season for the Huskies in which he was second on the team in points per game at 16.2 while also grabbing 3.8 rebounds and dishing out 1.3 assists per game.

He was also the team's best shot-maker, knocking down 38.8 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc on high volume.

It was from the three-point line that Hawkins really helped his draft stock as he was scorching-hot during his team's run to the NCAA championship. He made 21-of-42 three-pointers as the Huskies won all their tournament games by double digits.

Hawkins finished with 16 points in the national title game against San Diego State despite dealing with a stomach bug he came down with days before.

In Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman's most recent NBA mock draft, he has the All-Big East selection as a borderline lottery pick, going to the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 17 overall.

Wasserman raved about Hawkins' shooting ability, saying that he's perhaps the top shot-maker in this year's draft class.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont apparently isn't a big fan of the city of Houston.

"After winning the semifinals, you walk around downtown Houston, which is butt-ugly," he told WPLR-FM's Chaz and AJ show this week (h/t Associated Press). "Not much there."

Lamont, who visited the city during the UConn men's basketball team's run to the national championship, appeared to walk back his comments somewhat on Thursday.

"We had a ball in Houston during the NCAA Final Four," he said. "The people there were incredibly gracious and welcoming for us, and the basketball game was pretty darn good as well."

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner understandably didn't appreciate Lamont's initial comments, wondering why the governor was "throwing shade" after his city went out of its way to "feed you, dine you, host you, house you."

"And you're going to go back and talk about 'butt-ugly?'" Turner added. "Which end was he looking from?"

UConn beat San Diego State in the championship game, 76-59.

The UConn Huskies claimed their fifth national championship in program history on Monday night, and now it's time to celebrate.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the city of Hartford will host a victory parade for the champs on Saturday, April 8 starting at 11:30 a.m. ET. The champs will begin at the state Capitol building and proceed through downtown Hartford before culminating with a rally outside of the XL Center where players and coaches will give celebration speeches.

Fans can check local listings for television information. No live stream details had been made available as of Tuesday evening.

"The UConn Huskies men's basketball team has been a dominating force in the NCAA tournament, and it will be an honor for us to welcome the coaches and the players to downtown Hartford and give them the celebration they deserve," Lamont said. "I am strongly encouraging the residents of Connecticut to come to the parade and show the Huskies how proud we are and how much this team means to our state."

UConn defeated San Diego State 76-59 in Monday's championship game. The Huskies won all six of their tournament games by a margin of 10 or more points, dominating their competition on the way to the title.

"We're thrilled to welcome the five-time national champion UConn Huskies and everyone in Husky Nation to Hartford this weekend, to celebrate a dominant and historic season," mayor Luke Bronin said. "The City of Hartford is proud to host another victory parade, and our team is working closely with the University of Connecticut, the Hartford Downtown Improvement District, and the Governor's office to make Saturday a great day for Connecticut."

Fans of the Huskies will surely relish in another championship and celebrate to the fullest on Saturday.

Fifteen people were charged with crimes and 16 people were injured Monday night at celebrations following the University of Connecticut's national championship victory

"A small number chose to risk their safety and that of others by vandalizing or destroying property after the game," UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said in a statement. "UConn Police will investigate the vandalism and other potential criminal offenses that occurred. Those responsible will face arrest and, if they are students, sanctions up to and including expulsion."

None of the people taken to the hospital were seriously injured.

The damage included broken light poles, broken glass in windows of on-campus buildings, a vandalized student union door, one vehicle being turned on its side and fires set in trash dumpsters.

Several viral social media posts showed students raucously celebrating on campus in the immediate aftermath of the Huskies' 76-59 victory over San Diego State. The win is the fifth men's national championship in school history.

On-campus celebrations often lead to property damage in the aftermath of major sporting events, though students who are punished for their actions often end up regretting them.

UConn men's basketball head coach Dan Hurley had a few reasons to celebrate Monday night.

For one, his Huskies won the national championship, beating San Diego State convincingly, 76-59.

But he also earned a $150,000 bonus with the victory, according to USA Today's Steve Berkowitz:

Hurley earned himself a pretty penny in bonuses, but he wasn't the top earner in college basketball in that regard. That distinction belonged to Tennessee's Rick Barnes, who raked in $700,000 in bonuses, per Berkowitz.

Hurley will assuredly be happy with his lucrative payday to go along with the national title he now has on his resume, the fifth in the history of the UConn men's basketball program.