Rick Pitino wins 1st Big East Coach of the Year award and RJ Luis Jr. is Player of the Year
Rick Pitino has won his first Big East Coach of the Year award and RJ Luis Jr. took Player of the Year honors after they propelled a resurgent St. John’s program to its best regular season in almost four decades
NEW YORK (AP) — Add another accolade to Rick Pitino's incredible resume. This was a new one, too — which might come as a surprise.
Pitino won his first Big East Coach of the Year award on Wednesday and RJ Luis Jr. took Player of the Year honors after they propelled a resurgent St. John's program to its best regular season in almost four decades.
“I think anytime you get voted by your peers for an award it’s extra special,” said Pitino, who has spent 12 seasons in the league at three programs. “The Big East has had the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball. So it’s a special award today for me to be amongst some of those greats that won this award previously.”
UConn forward Liam McNeeley was selected the league's Freshman of the Year despite missing eight games with a high ankle sprain.
All three awards were presented during a ceremony inside Madison Square Garden a couple of hours before the Big East Tournament tipped off.
Voting is done by Big East head coaches, who aren't allowed to pick their own players. Pitino, Luis and McNeeley were feted with similar conference awards Tuesday by The Associated Press.
In his second season at the school, Pitino guided sixth-ranked St. John's (27-4, 18-2) to its first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years after the team was picked fifth in the preseason coaches' poll. A winner of national championships at Kentucky and Louisville, the 72-year-old Hall of Famer became the first coach to lead five programs to regular-season conference crowns. His 881 victories make him the winningest active Division I basketball coach.
Earlier in his career, Pitino enjoyed highly successful Big East stints at Providence and Louisville, taking both programs to the Final Four. But his five previous Coach of the Year awards came in the Southeastern Conference (1991, 1996), Conference USA (2005) and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (2022, 2023).
So this one made Pitino and Oregon’s Dana Altman the only coaches in Division I history to win Coach of the Year at four schools in four separate conferences.
Pitino claimed three national coach of the year awards in 1987 with Providence, but Georgetown's John Thompson garnered the Big East prize that season.
Lou Carnesecca (1983, ’85, ’86), Brian Mahoney (1993) and Mike Anderson (2021) were the previous St. John’s coaches to win.
Pitino's son, Richard, was named Mountain West Coach of the Year on Tuesday after leading New Mexico to an outright regular-season crown. It's believed to be the first time in Division I history that a father and son won conference Coach of the Year awards in the same season, according to St. John's.
“Very excited for my son,” the elder Pitino said, smiling. “I think it's awesome. The Pitino family's on a great run right now.”
Luis ranked fourth in the Big East in scoring with a team-high 18.1 points per game and sixth in rebounding at 7.1 per game as the Red Storm matched a school record for regular-season wins. The junior wing from Miami averaged 24.3 points over the final three games and became the first conference Player of the Year from St. John's since Walter Berry in 1985-86.
That season was the last time the Johnnies earned the top seed in the Big East Tournament — until this one.
“We're not finished yet,” said Luis, who got choked up and shed tears at the podium as he thanked all his family members in attendance — including his crying mother. “Obviously, this is very emotional for us. Not just for me, but also just the whole family.”
McNeeley, a touted recruit from Texas, averaged 14.7 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds for the third-place Huskies (22-9, 14-6). He scored a season-high 38 points in a Feb. 11 victory at Creighton, a Big East record for a UConn rookie.
McNeeley was selected the conference's freshman of the week seven times and became the second consecutive UConn player to win the award, following Stephon Castle last year.
At the end of his brief acceptance speech, McNeeley all but guaranteed the Huskies will reach the championship game at MSG.
“Lastly I'd like to say, I'll see you all on Saturday,” he pronounced.
Marquette senior Stevie Mitchell won the Big East Scholar-Athlete Award.
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