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<\/p>\nUnlike most people who are picking college basketball powerhouses such as the Duke Blue Devils or the Arizona Wildcats to win the national championship, former New York Knicks star John Starks is going with a sleeper \u2013 he\u2019s going with the Rick Pitino-led St. John\u2019s Red Storm to win it all.<\/p>\n
Starks, who is best known for his career with the Knicks during the 90s in which he led the team to the 1994 NBA Finals alongside Patrick Ewing, is going with an unlikely matchup in the national championship game. He\u2019s going with St. John\u2019s against the Arkansas Razorbacks, which are led by another legendary head coach in John Calipari.<\/p>\n
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\u201cJust watching them live, I was at Madison Square Garden during their semifinal game and and I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow,\u2019\u201d said Starks in a one-on-one interview of St. Johns. \u201cThis team has really grown from the start of the season to where they\u2019re at now, and just watching the way they play, the toughness that they play with, it reminds me of our Knicks team. Their guard play is so much better than it was last year \u2013 if you can say that \u2013 because they had some tremendous guards last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starks continued to elaborate on why St. Johns is his pick. They had a sensational season last year, peaking at No. 5 in the AP poll and going 31-5 on the season. However, their cinderella season ended in the second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re a better shooting team than they was last year,\u201d Starks said. \u201cI love that little point guard (Dylan Darling) they have. He just a tough son of a gun, and he runs the team. And then big (Zuby) Ejiofor, he\u2019s just a monster. He really elevated his game since two years ago, since he came to St John\u2019s. They have a Hall of Famer coach in Coach Pitino, he knows what it takes in order to win obviously during tournament time. I think he got these guys right there from a mentality standpoint, knowing that they can go in and beat anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
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New York Knicks great John Starks’ 2026 Men’s Basketball bracket.<\/p>\n
AT&T<\/p>\n
The two legendary coaches have faced off multiple times in the NCAA tournament, including twice in the Final Four and twice in the Sweet 16. However, they\u2019ve never matched up in the national championship game.<\/p>\n
St John\u2019s is currently the No. 5 seed in the East region while Arkansas is the No. 4 seed in the West region. Duke is the top seed in the East region while Arizona is the top seed in the west region. Both teams had two losses this season and are regarded as the top teams in college basketball.<\/p>\n
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Starks singles out the play of Arkansas point guard Darius Acuff Jr., who leads the team with 23.0 points and 6.6 assists per game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two guys, Hall of Famer coaches, obviously, they got Darius Acuff Jr.,\u201d said Starks. They have him, the little point guard. He\u2019s a monster. And same thing those guys, they get after you defensively. I think Rick Pitino and coach Calipari probably be sharing notes how to play because they\u2019re kind of mirror images of each other. From the standpoint of that they get after you defensively, they got big guys that can run, they got big guys that can shoot.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou throw Calipari in there that\u2019s been through the wars during the tournaments, and he understands how to get these guys ready mentally,\u201d Starks continued to say. “They got that little beast. He\u2019s tough to handle. When (Kendrick) Perkins said that he could be the number one pick, I\u2019m like, \u2018What?\u2019 Then I started watching him. I\u2019m like, ‘Whoa. Okay, I see what you\u2019re talking about.\u2019 He\u2019s a fascinating young man. I love his game.”<\/p>\n
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John Starks Talks About AT&T Commercial With Patrick Ewing, Jalen Brunson And Karl-Anthony Towns<\/p>\n
Starks\u2019 picks for the tournament come at the right time as he happens to be starring in an AT&T commercial with Ewing and current Knicks stars in Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jose Alvarado.<\/p>\n
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