As a teenager in Queens, Mike Repole worshiped the great St. John’s University basketball teams of the 1980s, whose stars often came from the gyms and playgrounds of New York City.

The team’s tough, defensive brand of championship ball helped Repole, the son of an immigrant waiter and a seamstress, identify with the school. As a student there, he honed the grit that would help him amass a sports-drink fortune.

But as his star was rising, St. John’s basketball declined, with decades of disappointing seasons. Now, Repole’s money, which Forbes magazine estimates at $1.8 billion, has helped make St. John’s the nation’s sixth-ranked team, with top players acquired from around the nation.

It finished the regular season 27-4 and will be the top seed in this week’s Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Fans have high hopes for a deep N.C.A.A. Tournament run after that.

Repole, 56, says the team is reclaiming its greatness.

“It’s been missing for 25 years, and now to have it all back is pretty magical,” Repole said during a recent game at Madison Square Garden, where he arrives by private jet from his Florida home and sits courtside near head coach Rick Pitino.

With the St. John’s team’s success, Repole has emerged as one of the most striking examples of how money is reshaping college basketball.

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