The St. John’s men’s basketball opener could be coming to the bright lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium during the 2024-25 season if Rick Pitino has his way. 

The Red Storm head coach said during an appearance on WFAN’s “Boomer and Gio” that the men’s basketball team was working to host Duke at the famed tennis stadium in Queens to kick off next year.

He also said that the team would be playing Alabama next year at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re working right now to play in Arthur Ashe Stadium, to play Duke opening game in Arthur Ashe Stadium,” Pitino said. “Then we’re going to play Alabama in the Garden. … We’re making the schedule as good as it can be.

“Playing in the Garden eight or 10 times is important.”

If St. John’s and Duke can agree to a game at Arthur Ashe, one of the legendary venues of the U.S. Open, it would mark the first time a college basketball has ever been hosted at the stadium.

The Liberty and Indiana Fever played a WNBA game there in July 2008, and the stadium has also hosted an annual All Elite Wrestling event called AEW Grand Slam since 2021. 

A game inside a 23,771 stadium would certainly fit the parameters of where Pitino felt St. John’s needed to play their games going forward, a feeling he had made clear following his introductory press conference last March. 

“My vision is to play every game at Madison Square Garden conference-wise,” Pitino said at the time. “It has to be played in a major facility ’cause you’re going to need it. Carnesecca Arena will not be big enough for the brand of basketball that we’re going to build.”

Pitino reiterated the importance of playing in Manhattan on Wednesday, noting that MSG remains one of the program’s top recruiting tools. 

While the Johnnies are somewhat limited in their time at Madison Square Garden this season, they will play games at Barclays Center (one game) and nearby UBS Arena (three games) in Nassau County.

Pitino also said St. John’s has plans for a brand new on-campus practice facility to be built. 

“They’re going to build a new practice facility — a $35 million practice facility,” he said during his WFAN appearance. “They don’t know how to do it land-wise [but] I know they’re doing it. I’m not sure it’ll be done during my tenure or not. They say ground is going to be broken this spring.”

Pitino did voice some skepticism that ground would be broken that quickly, but it continues to signal a major shift for the men’s basketball program at St. John’s, which has struggled in a search for stability and now has the potential for a rebirth under the legendary coach. 

The opportunity to turn around the once-heralded program was what drew Pitino to Queens in the first place. 

“Look I’m 71. I’m not a spring chicken anymore and it’s my last opportunity to build something special,” he said on WFAN. “Whether it was the Knicks, or whether it was Providence College or Boston University or Kentucky or Louisville. This was my last opportunity to take something that was so big in the 60s, 70s, 80s and create it back to where Louie [Carnesecca] had it. And we’re starting out pretty strong.”