Rick Pitino and RJ Luis Jr. Earn Big East's Top Honors in Historic St. John's Season

Pitino wins his first Big East Coach of the Year award, while Luis Jr. becomes the school's first Player of the Year in 39 years.

Rick Pitino led St. John's to a 27-4 record and its first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985, earning him his first Big East Coach of the Year award.
RJ Luis Jr., averaging 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds, was named Big East Player of the Year, the first St. John's player to receive the honor since Walter Berry in 1986.
The Red Storm's Zuby Ejiofor was recognized as the conference's Most Improved Player and was also named to the All-Big East first team alongside Luis.
St. John's enters the Big East Tournament as the top seed, marking the first time since 1986 that the program has achieved this position.
Pitino's coaching achievements include becoming the first coach to lead five different programs to regular-season conference titles and amassing 881 career wins, the most among active Division I coaches.