Rick Pitino

I'm skeptical of that comment.

But Bryce Hopkins, if the Hopkins family is listening, dude, that was a dog play.

And it was important, and I think in a lot of ways was the most important play of last night's escape by St.

And Zuby Ejiofor is tremendous.

It's a complete Monday morning quarterbacking thing because I think as you're sitting there and you're consuming the game, you want to destroy them, and you never want to blow a 14-point lead or a 13-point lead with 6.45 to go.

But as we sit here today, what are we now, 14 hours after the game is over, I completely agree with you.

I remember even saying that the other day about Duke, that that white-knuckle game is really, really important for some of the top seeds.

Obviously, St.

John's wasn't a huge favorite in this game.

They actually went off as a favorite, though.

It was a 4-5 matchup.

No, absolutely.

It was a three and a half point spread, but they were viewed as a favorite in this game.

So this wasn't like one of those, you're playing an inferior team and boy, you got to scare.

It was more that you won the game.

You outplayed them 90% of the time.

You had a big lead in the final five minutes and you let them back in it.

I mean, and to escape, I agree with you.

I think it actually improves their chances of beating a Duke or a Michigan State or UConn if they get that far.

Because that was a test yesterday, man.