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Perfect pairing
St. John's will replace UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic, giving us a Kentucky-St. John's matchup next season. What a gift. Plus: Villanova adds an impact player, Seton Hall gets much-needed frontcourt depth, how a 'Marfo' could help Bethune-Cookman make history, and the unexpected glee of the Lakers' loss.
Tristan Freeman
May 02, 2025
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Good morning! Thanks for subscribing. We’re glad to have you for the next five months when things get quiet in college hoops.
Let’s get to Thursday’s news.
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1. Kentucky vs. St. John’s? Pope vs. Pitino? Love it.
The CBS Sports Classic is always one of December’s best non-conference showcases with four teams that are usually Top 25 mainstays: Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA.
Except … a change is coming for the 2025 edition.
The Bruins are coming off their first year as a Big Ten member. While the on-court results were good, the program would love to limit travel. Coach Mick Cronin spoke repeatedly last season about how sick he was of trips to the East Coast. So UCLA took the opportunity to bow out.
“We’re always assessing how we can improve the men’s basketball program, and a big part of that is evaluating our team’s schedule,” UCLA AD Martin Jarmond told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. “We value our long-standing partnership with CBS and look forward to working with them in the future. But as we explore future schedule options, it’s important that we are strategic and have some flexibility. We want to bolster our home schedule, and I know that our fans are excited for the opportunity to add a game to Pauley Pavilion.”
It’s not often you can replace UCLA with more high-profile, more intriguing program, but the CBS Sports Classic did on Thursday: St. John’s will step in.
Rick Pitino’s squad is coming off Big East regular-season and tournament titles, and should enter 2025-26 as a preseason Top 5 squad.
So what better way to introduce the Red Storm to the CBS Sports Classic than facing the Kentucky? It not only brings their former coach (Pitino led the Wildcats from 1989-97) against his old team, but also brings his former player, Mark Pope, to the mix. (Those two are downright giddy about it.) It’s the first time a Pitino-led team will play Kentucky since Louisville in 2016.
As Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman note, that’s going to make for a fabulous event.
St. John’s has been winning in the past few months. Getting a spot in the CBS Sports Classic is just another win for the program.
2. Kevin Willard finally lands a notable addition
New Villanova coach Kevin Willard didn’t have any Maryland players follow him to Philly, the most notable example being guard Rodney Rice, who went to USC.
And the Wildcats had yet to make splash moves in the transfer portal. But Willard got a Thursday addition who might just be his most talented player next season.
