Johnnies nation is pumped.
St. John’s is headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 and plenty of the basketball program’s alumni took to social media to celebrate the occasion.
Former St. John’s guard Dwight Hardy — a Bronx native — had been part of the Red Storm team that reached the NCAA Tournament in 2011, and had a message for the Johnnies’ Sweet 16 opponent, Duke.
“Sweet 16 baby! Yo Duke, we coming!” Hardy said in a video he posted on social media.
Phil Greene, who played for St. John’s from the 2011-12 season through the 2014-15 season, wrote on X, “I definitely have to be in attendance at the Sweet 16.”
Amir Garrett, who played two seasons for St. John’s before pursuing baseball, shared an old picture of himself from his basketball days with the Red Storm celebrating.
“Mood!!!!! What’s a gutsy win for the guys,” he wrote.
Former St. John’s star Metta World Peace took to social media as well to celebrate the win.
“Let’s go Johnnie’s,” he wrote on X. “#1 of all time… gooooooo Johnnie’s.”
World Peace was a member of that 1998-99 St. John’s squad that went on a run all the way to the Elite Eight, and he posted multiple times on Sunday after the Red Storm’s win.
St. John’s punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 on Sunday night with a dramatic win over Kansas.
Dylan Darling played the hero in the game, scoring a buzzer-beating layup to give the Red Storm the 67-65 win.
Now St. John’s will travel to Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. to face Duke on Friday night.
St. John’s and Duke have not played one another since the 2018-19 season and have not faced each other in the NCAA Tournament since 1991, when they met in the Elite Eight.
