SAN DIEGO — They were laughing and joyously bouncing off the walls in the hallway before they took the Viejas Arena court for their March Madness practice.
A red “SJ” blazed on the overhead scoreboard, a blue “March Madness” logo underneath it. The 27-member St. John’s band played and then the six cheerleaders and six dance team members came walking in. Johnny, the mascot, was dancing.
And now St. John’s goes dancing again Friday night against Northern Iowa, all these months later, after Rick Pitino gathered them together for the first time and mentioned the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, at the end of the treacherous Survive and Advance marathon that would await them.
Outside the St. John’s locker room, before he would join his team, clad in a white sweatsuit, I asked Pitino why he mentioned national championship to his team that day. And the Hall of Fame coach told The Post: “I said, ‘I’m not gonna be coaching forever, so I’m gonna dream. If you want to join my dream, get after it.’”
