The St. John’s Red Storm were no longer an underdog to start the season. Ranked No. 5 in the AP Preseason Poll — the highest mark in school history — Rick Pitino’s team entered the year with real expectations. A big part of that excitement came from their stacked transfer class built around Big East Preseason Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor. But no one expected the kind of rough start the Johnnies have stumbled into.

Fans were afraid that the 73-year-old, who guided the Johnnies to their fourth Big East Tournament title and took them back to the Big East Championship game for the first time since 2000 under Mike Jarvis, might retire after this season. But Pitino quickly eased those worries, telling PIX11 Sports, “I’m in good shape at 73, I’m going to be 133 by the time I retire.”

St. John’s had landed the No. 1 transfer class in the country, adding serious firepower with Ian Jackson, Bryce Hopkins, Joson Sanon, Dillon Mitchell, and Oziyah Sellers. Even with RJ Luis Jr. departing, this backcourt looked anything but thin. Pitino reloaded with top-tier talent, giving Red Storm fans every reason to be excited about the season. But losing three of their first seven games sent St. John’s crashing from No. 5 all the way down to No. 23 in the AP Top 25.

Defense has been a glaring problem for the Johnnies. St. John’s gave up 83 points or more in each of their three losses, a number they allowed only twice all of last season, and both of those games went to overtime. According to Rumble in the Garden, opponents are grabbing offensive rebounds at a staggering rate of 36.4%, which ranks 317th in the nation.

After the Auburn loss, Pitino didn’t sugarcoat anything. He admitted the Johnnies were an “average defensive team,” but the extended break that followed turned out to be a blessing. The Johnnies came back firing and beat Ole Miss 63–58, thanks to a defense that finally showed up when it mattered most and restricted Ole Miss to 36% shooting from the field.

The thrill of working with this roster clearly gives Pitino all the fuel he needs to keep going. He knows this team isn’t bad by any stretch, and that belief is what keeps him pushing to get things right. But can he turn this group around and get St. John’s back into the contender conversation?

Can Rick Pitino fix this mess?

Are St. John’s a bad team? Not even close. Say what you want about their defensive issues, but offensively, they’ve been one of the better teams in the country. They’re averaging 92.3 points per game, which ranks 12th nationally, and they attack the glass hard with 14.62 offensive rebounds per game, putting them inside the top 25.

Pitino’s biggest hurdle is that he’s working with 11 new faces — seven transfers and four freshmen — and building rhythm and chemistry right away was always going to take time. On top of that, losing Simeon Wilcher to Texas and Kadary Richmond to the pros meant the Johnnies opened the season without a true point guard to steady things.

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This extended break seems to have settled a few things for St. John’s, judging by the fact that Rick Pitino’s men still pulled out a win despite shooting just 34 percent from the field. Their next test comes against a struggling Kentucky team, and that matchup should give us a much clearer picture of where the Red Storm truly stand.