Rick Pitino, St. John’s sing sea shanty during ‘The Tonight Show’ appearance
This year’s college basketball season has been full of surprises for fans of Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm, and Thursday night produced another one.
During an episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Pitino and St. John’s players appeared in a parody video of the famous sea shanty “The Wellerman.”
The song, performed over a traditional sea shanty beat, references the Red Storm’s success this season — they’re ranked No. 6 nationally and have won 15 of their past 16 games — and Pitino’s role in the program’s turnaround.
“Soon may the Red Storm come, to rock the rim and make a run. One day when the winning is done, we’ll cut the nets and go,” the chorus reads.
Players sing alongside Fallon with a background of stormy seas and St. John’s highlights as the song references the Queens, N.Y., program returning “back on top after 25 years.”
After about 50 seconds, the song notes Pitino’s revered status in the college basketball landscape.
The former University of Kentucky and University of Louisville coach then appears alongside Fallon, both wearing Pitino’s trademark white suit.
Pitino has worn his white suit in recent years to support the team’s “whiteout” games, including this year when St. John’s beat Seton Hall to win the school’s first Big East regular season championship in 40 years.
Fallon also interviewed Pitino later in the program. Pitino talked about his team’s regular season championship, playing alongside Julius “Dr. J” Irving in college and interviewing for an assistant coach job with Syracuse the night of his wedding.
Pitino said he landed the job but missed about three hours of the wedding.
The sea shanty clip is as catchy as it is clever, and it will give college basketball fans plenty to talk about in a month in which college basketball takes center stage.
Sea shanties are traditional songs created and sung by sailors, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The term first originated in the 1800s, but traces of shanties can be found all the way back to the 1600s.
Shanties are typically “call and response” songs with a regular, heavy rhythm, according to Royal Museums Greenwich. The popular “The Wellerman” shanty gained fame in 2020 when Scottish singer Nathan Evans recorded his version of the song, and it went viral on social media.
Pitino on the verge of making more history
Pitino is garnering plenty of credit for the Red Storm’s quick turnaround this year.
After missing the NCAA Tournament in his debut season with St. John’s last year, Pitino’s squad is sure to make the big dance this season for the first time since 2019.
If the Red Storm make the NCAA Tournament field, it’ll be the sixth school Pitino has taken to the NCAA Tournament, according to CBS Sports. St. John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000.
Pitino has had vast success in the NCAA Tournament. He led Kentucky to one national championship and three Final Fours in eight seasons in charge.
Fans turned on him when he was hired at rival Louisville — winning a national championship in 2013 — following a brief stint with the Boston Celtics.
But they seemed to have forgiven him with the hiring of Mark Pope last year, a key player on Pitino’s 1996 championship squad.
Pitino enthusiastically encouraged and endorsed Pope’s hiring, and last October, during Kentucky’s annual Big Blue Madness celebration, Pitino made a triumphant return to Rupp Arena. Pope reintroduced him to the UK fans, and Pitino called Rupp Arena his “Camelot.”
“I am so happy to be back,” Pitino said. “I said before I pack it in, in coaching, I want to go back to Camelot for one more time. And there’s no way I can return better. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time, because I visit all my players. I visit the fans that made me happy for every single day for eight years.”
Pope and Pitino have discussed bringing St. John’s to Rupp Arena for a game, possibly as soon as next season, if both schools can make it work.
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 11:07 AM.
