Rick Pitino is aware of there’s work to do.
St. John’s has already landed two coveted transfers in ahead Bryce Hopkins and wing Joson Sanon, however the backcourt stays a piece in progress, significantly at level guard.
Nonetheless, Pitino feels good about the place his roster stands at this level of the offseason.
“The nucleus is there,” Pitino mentioned Wednesday at Citi Discipline, the place the Mets acknowledged the Pink Storm’s Large East common season and convention event championships.
“We’ll shore it up. We’ve got to get some backcourt players in, maybe one frontcourt player, but recruiting’s going well.”
Pitino has lauded Hopkins, a confirmed scorer and rebounder, as a “great replacement” for RJ Luis Jr., who declared for the NBA Draft and entered the switch portal. Pitino has mentioned Luis, the reigning Large East Participant of the Yr, is not going to be again with St. John’s.
However the Johnnies haven’t crammed the voids left by level guards Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith, who have been seniors final season.
The one skilled backcourt possibility returning to St. John’s is junior Simeon Wilcher, whom Pitino views as extra of a combo guard than a main level guard. The Pink Storm are additionally bringing again Lefteris Liotopoulos, a capturing guard who performed solely 4.8 minutes per sport as a freshman.
“We can’t play with one guard,” Pitino mentioned. “You’ve got to have four guards in your backcourt. Four to five. Sim’s a competitor. He’s a veteran. He knows the system. It’s going to be much more difficult for the people coming in than it will be for Sim.”
Switch candidates who’ve been linked to St. John’s embody North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, who hails from the Bronx and simply averaged 11.9 factors per sport as a freshman.
St. John’s ranked final within the Large East in 3-point proportion (30.1%) and third-to-last in free throw proportion (69.1%). These deficiencies loomed giant within the second-seeded Pink Storm’s loss to Tenth-seeded Arkansas within the NCAA Event’s second spherical.
Pitino hopes the addition of Sanon, who shot 36.9% on 3-pointers as a freshman at Arizona State, will assist.
“We need shooting as much as anything,” Pitino mentioned.
“Houston and us, we were the two best defensive teams, but it’s the offensive teams that really go far in the [NCAA] Tournament. You have to have a great offense, and we were not a great offensive basketball team this year.”
Requested Wednesday if he’s at the moment concentrating on offensive-first gamers, Pitino replied, “I’d probably say they’re offensive-first.”
Hopkins averaged at the very least 15.5 factors and seven.7 rebounds per sport in every of the previous three seasons at Windfall, although the final two have been largely derailed by knee accidents.
He joins a frontcourt headlined by Zuby Ejiofor, the Large East’s Most Improved Participant, who’s returning after averaging 14.7 factors and eight.1 rebounds as a junior.
“He’s a physical guy, a guy that can easily get downhill and create opportunities for himself and for others as well,” Ejiofor mentioned of Hopkins. “I’m just really excited for what he brings to the table and for what we could all do as a team.”
Pitino has mentioned he expects seven or eight gamers to return.
Sharp-shooting ahead Brady Dunlap entered the switch portal, however 7-1 middle Vince Iwuchukwu and 6-10 ahead Ruben Prey are anticipated again — probably in bigger roles.
“Zuby’s got to get better at, when the center plays drop coverage, hitting the 3 and not thinking about it,” mentioned Pitino, the 2024-25 Naismith Coach of the Yr.
“Vince is going to get a lot better with ball-handling on the perimeter, a little bit with passing. Ruben’s got to get better with shooting the basketball. Sim is a terrific shooter but he’s got to get it off quicker.”
That group will look to construct on a 12 months during which St. John’s completed 31-5 and received its first NCAA Event sport in 25 years.
“These guys are very bothered by losing in the second round,” Pitino mentioned. “They’re very hungry to get back to it, but it starts with the summer work — getting stronger, getting quicker, getting better — and they’ll do it.”
Initially Revealed: April 10, 2025 at 9:23 AM EDT
