While most of the focus in the men’s college basketball world on Sunday was about the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, which featured an unbelievable finish between Connecticut and Duke, there was some news involving St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino.
Pitino signed an amended contract with St. John’s that makes him the second-highest paid coach in the Big East, behind UConn’s Dan Hurley.
CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein posted the news to X while he worked at the studio desk on television for CBS Sports Network’s NCAA March Madness 360.
CBS Sports Network host Adam Zucker and analysts Wally Szczerbiak and Chris Walker poked fun at Rothstein as he tried to post breaking news to social media while on live television.
Jon had to get the Pitino news out while on live TV.
A real behind the scenes look… @JonRothstein https://t.co/ndZZZzNcfX pic.twitter.com/zA3QWkm8Jx
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 29, 2026
“I’m actually most interested in what Jon’s got cookin’ over there,” Zucker said, as Rothstein worked away on his laptop.
“He wants to tweet it out before he says it on this show,” Szczerbiak explained.
“Well, I don’t know if he can say it for sure,” Zucker added.
“And it also feels like we’re at the zoo and we’re looking at him through glass right now,” Zucker continued, which cracked up Szczerbiak and Walker as Rothstein remained locked in on his laptop.
Rothstein then announced the news.
“Alright, Rick Pitino has officially signed his amended contract with St. John’s,” Rothstein said. “The new agreement makes Pitino the second-highest head coach in the Big East behind UConn’s Dan Hurley.”
Walker then served as an editor, noting that Rothstein left out the word “paid” after “second-highest.”
“Yeah, second-highest paid,” Rothstein responded. “Good call, Chris. I gotta re-tweet this.”
“Autcorrect,” Walker said. “Auto-C-Walk.”
“This is a real ‘inside baseball’ moment,” Zucker said. “Jon, you had to edit your tweet?”
“I just did, because we’re making things obviously happen,” Rothstein replied.
“This is what happens on March Madness 360,” Zucker explained. “We are here working all day, and they put us on TV for part of it, so we get to witness (such moments).”
It was an eventful and entertaining day for the CBS Sports studio crews, who went crazy during UConn’s game-winning shot over Duke.
