The Johnnies performed a parody of a sea shanty in their late night TV debut, complete with a shot of Rick Pitino singing the chorus in his signature white suit alongside Jimmy Fallon
The hype surrounding St. John’s men’s basketball has reached a fever pitch, and it’s now made its way onto late-night television.
Less than a week after winning their first Big East regular season title in 40 years, head coach Rick Pitino and the Red Storm made a primetime appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night. In a cold open, Pitino and all 13 players (with Johnny Thunderbird making a brief cameo) joined Fallon to sing a sea shanty parody about their successful season.
During the chorus, Rick Pitino donned his trademark all-white suit alongside Fallon, who wore a replica of Pitino’s snowy number, as they sang with the basketball team backing them up to create one of the most bizarre visuals in Red Storm basketball history.
“I think it helps build the brand and the spirit of St. John’s. Most importantly, it’s fun for the players,” Pitino told media about the late-night appearance on Friday, “It’s important to work hard, but it’s also important to have fun while you’re working hard.”
Kadary Richmond expressed how much fun it was for the team to do something out of their comfort zone, but the former Seton Hall Pirate wasn’t so high on his team’s shantying abilities.
“There is no best singer here,” Richmond said in jest on Friday when asked who has the best pipes on the team.
Pitino had a brief interview with Fallon later in the show to promote next week’s Big East men’s basketball tournament streaming on Peacock and the Vice Sports docuseries “Pitino: Red Storm Rising,” which follows this season’s St. John’s men’s basketball team. Pitino reminisced on how he interviewed for his first assistant coaching job with Jim Boeheim at Syracuse on his wedding night.
Their interview never touched on this year’s team beyond showing a viral clip from Episode Two of the docuseries of when Pitino called out the team for their lackadaisical effort as they trailed by 13 points during halftime of their game versus Providence in December. The Red Storm took their coach’s speech to heart and would come back from that deficit and win at the buzzer.
Some fans may be irked by the team making media appearances before playing in the NCAA tournament. Still, there are very few teams — professional or collegiate — that get the opportunity to appear on late-night TV in front of the entire nation. For St. John’s to get this chance is a testament to their rapidly growing appeal in not just the realm of college basketball but sports as a whole.