Conference realignment has been a hot topic in college sports in recent years. One of the biggest shakeups happened last year when the Pac-12 disbanded with teams breaking away and joining the Big Ten and Big 12. The Pac-12 will make its comeback for the 2026-27 season, but in the meantime, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino favors more conference mergers, starting with the Big East and ACC.
During a recent appearance on “The Roommates Show,” hosted by New York Knicks players Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, Pitino explained why an ACC and Big East super conference that would be a good thing for college basketball.
“I’m a big believer in combining the Big East and the ACC. Coach Krzyzewski recommended it. I think it would be great to have a super basketball conference,” Pitino said. “Because you know, back when I started coaching, the NBA and the NFL were like that. College football, college basketball was like that. Today, an NBA playoff game against Miami of Ohio playing a mid-major football outranks an NBA game on television. Football has taken over television and it’s all because of gambling.”
“So football dominates, so I would like to see us combine with the ACC and have this super conference to rebuild the stature of college basketball,” Pitino continued.
In a hypothetical merger between the ACC and Big East, that would give the potential super conference a total of 29 teams. That would make it the largest conference in college athletics.
Meanwhile, Rick Pitino has certainly brought St. John’s back into the national spotlight. The Red Storm started the 2025-26 season at 2-1 and are ranked No. 14 in the country. THE Red Storm just suffered a tough defeat against Alabama.
