There was a celebration on the MSG floor when the clock hit triple zeroes and St. John’s had escaped with a victory Saturday afternoon. Inside the Johnnies locker room, though, Rick Pitino took

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, 72 and dapper as ever in a navy blue suit with white pocket square, appeared from the tunnel that led to the floor. The scene played out on the videoboard above the court for all to see as the chorus hit its crescendo. This is the Pitino Effect.

St. John’s was one of college basketball’s premier programs in the 1980s and ’90s but has been largely mediocre over the last two decades. It has made only three NCAA tourna