St. John's transfer class considered one of best in nation
Kadary Richmond of St. John's looks to get around the defense of teammate Simeon Wilcher during practice on Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Rick Pitino said the 2024-25 version of St. John’s features the most talent he has coached since his “late Louisville” days, which ended in 2017.
Powering that talent is a four-man transfer class that is considered among the country’s best. St. John’s, though returning multiple high-upside players, lost six of its top seven scorers and minute-getters per game from last season.
Guards Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall) and Deivon Smith (Utah), forward Aaron Scott (North Texas) and center Vince Iwuchukwu (USC) form a group of transfers ranked fourth nationally, according to 247Sports. Once St. John’s declined an NIT invite and ended its 2023-24 season after missing the NCAA Tournament, it was time to reload.
“One of the reasons why we didn’t want to play in the NIT, we wanted to really last year, we couldn’t do our homework,” Pitino said following Wednesday’s practice at Carnesecca Arena. “Whoever’s available, we got to get to fill a roster. This year, we wanted to really pay attention to who we’re bringing in, not only talent-wise, but attitude-wise, culture, fitting the culture. Whether Deivon would fit the culture, whether Aaron would fit the culture.
“And we did our homework, and I think we did a damn good job with that.”
St. John’s was already familiar with the 6-6 Richmond, who became a star in the Big East and played against the Red Storm thrice last year. Richmond averaged 15.7 points, seven rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.2 steals last season, earning All-Big East first-team honors.
“That was the whole scout [against Seton Hall] last year, was Kadary, and we couldn’t do anything with him,” sophomore forward Brady Dunlap said. “I mean, we tried to press him and he would just hold us off and catch the ball. And we’d go into the halftime and Coach Pitino would be so mad. So now it’s very nice to have that presence on our team.”
Smith, 6-foot, posted 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 40.8% from three last season. He had five triple-doubles which tied the NCAA lead.
Both Richmond and Smith are using their COVID year — the additional season of eligibility that winter 2020-21 student-athletes received because of the pandemic. Richmond played one season at Syracuse before three at Seton Hall. Smith spent one at Mississippi State, two at Georgia Tech and one at Utah.
The duo, plus sophomore Simeon Wilcher, should form an outstanding backcourt.
“They’re Fire and Ice to me,” said Dunlap, alluding to the old NC State duo of Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe. “You got Deivon, who might be the fastest guy I’ve ever played with my whole life … And then Kadary is the strong, cerebral, find everybody, get everybody open [guy].
“. . . They’re two opposites, but they mesh so well together.”
Wilcher added: “It’s been great. Kadary and Deivon are both two hilarious dudes off the court. But when it steps on the court, they’re all about what’s going on in between the lines.”
Pitino called the 6-7 Scott, who averaged 11 points and 5.6 rebounds and shot 37% from three last year, their best all-around defender and their most consistent practice player alongside junior forward Zuby Ejiofor.
Iwuchukwu, a 7-1 junior, played just 14 games as a freshman at USC after suffering a cardiac arrest in July 2022. He averaged 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds as a sophomore.
“He’s got terrific talent,” Pitino said. “He just has to learn how to play.”
Late arrivals
Freshman forward Ruben Prey, from Portugal, and freshman guard Lefteris Liotopoulos, from Greece, are not on campus yet. Prey has an appointment for a visa in the first week of August and Liotopoulos will not arrive until close to September.
With Roger Rubin
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.