After fighting off Marquette in the Big East semifinal, St. John’s is one win away from its first Big East Tournament championship in 25 years.
On Saturday night, the Johnnies will play Creighton for the title at Madison Square Garden—the next milestone in a renaissance that the team hopes will continue deep into March. The title game appearance is historic in itself; St. John’s hasn’t so much as made an appearance in a Big East championship game since 2000.
After the semifinal Friday night, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino told reporters: “There’s no panic in this stock market.”
Pitino was referring to the battle on the hardwood, when the Red Storm fought their way through an early deficit that, at one point, ballooned to 15 points. But he could just as easily have been referencing the NIL (name, image, and likeness) investments donors made this offseason, which helped build a conference championship-caliber roster—and whose value only appears to be rising.
Using NIL donations from multiple collectives, St. John’s built the fourth-ranked transfer class in the nation this past summer. Billionaire alum and Vitaminwater founder Mike Repole, who helped recruit Pitino in 2023, promised to ensure the team would have plenty of NIL money to work with.
“I let [administrators] know that, listen, you guys would have my cooperation to do whatever it takes to help the university get back in the national spotlight,” Repole told Front Office Sports last week. He’s since become one of the team’s biggest benefactors.
In all, the current roster has earned around $4 million, according to some reports. FOS couldn’t independently confirm the number, but an expert source has said that power conference schools spend around $3 million to $4 million to remain competitive. It’s an impressive number considering that Big East programs, without football dollars, are often considered to have many fewer resources.
Repole, for his part, could be seen enjoying the semifinal win Friday night from his usual seat behind the St. John’s bench—an unobstructed view to his investment paying off.
