Metta World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, will be honored as a BIG EAST Legend at the 2026 Men’s Basketball Tournament. The BIG EAST Conference announced that World Peace will represent St. John’s University in its legend recognition program and will be recognized during the Red Storm’s first tournament game on March 12 at Madison Square Garden.
The BIG EAST Legend Recognition Program was established in 2024 to honor alumni from men’s and women’s basketball who have contributed to the history of BIG EAST basketball.
World Peace, a standout high school player and McDonald’s All-American from Queensbridge, chose to play for St. John’s Red Storm Men’s Basketball, which plays its home games in Queens, New York according to the official website. He played two seasons with the team from 1997-99, scoring 907 points with an average of 13.1 points per game.
As a freshman in the 1997-98 season, he was unanimously selected for the All-BIG EAST Rookie Team and named conference freshman of the week four times. He averaged 11.6 points and 6.3 rebounds that season.
In his sophomore year (1998-99), World Peace averaged 14.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game while leading St. John’s to a record of 28-9 and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. He was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and received the Haggerty Award. Until last year, he was also noted as the last St. John’s player to achieve a triple-double before Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor repeated this accomplishment.
After his college career at St. John’s—whose men’s basketball team has claimed six Big East Tournament championships according to their official website—World Peace entered the NBA Draft and was picked by the Chicago Bulls as the 16th overall selection in the first round.
He went on to play for eighteen years in the NBA between 1999 and 2017. His professional achievements include being named NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2004), earning an NBA All-Star selection (2004), receiving four All-Defensive Team honors (2003-04, 2006, 2009), winning an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010, scoring over 13,000 points, and collecting nearly 5,000 rebounds during his career.
To learn more about other BIG EAST Legends being honored at this year’s men’s and women’s basketball tournaments visit their website.
