March Madness: St. John's turnaround a result of team buying in
New-school methods. Old-school principles. Both were employed in building St. John’s into a 30-game winner in just two years. The key is the way coach Rick Pitino, his staff and the players found the right way to blend them.
In the current landscape, college players now are as likely to be recruited out of another program as a high school or junior college because of the NCAA transfer portal and immediate eligibility. They also can earn money because of the rules about NIL (name, image and likeness) and collectives.
Pitino has been unvarnished in talking about the flow of money to the players, something he felt was long overdue. He’s often called them “professional basketball players.” He’s raved about the financial support the Red Storm get from billionaire St. John’s alumnus Mike Repole. And after a win at Seton Hall, he said Kadary Richmond would have remained with the Pirates “if the money was close.”
But St. John’s isn’t the 2025 Big East champion or the West Region’s No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament because it has the highest-paid player or the biggest payroll. Its success was built on the culture that was created last season and the players who carried it forward.
“You build a team by making sure you understand the whole puzzle of what goes into it,” Pitino said after the Red Storm won the Big East Tournament title Saturday night. “St. John’s didn’t get built by the NIL. St. John’s got built with character of the players.”
Four of the five returning players for St. John’s this season — Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor, UMass transfer RJ Luis Jr. and high school recruits Simeon Wilcher and Brady Dunlap — were all new to Pitino in 2023-24 and took a while to acclimate. (Sadiku Ibine Ayo was with Pitino at Iona before joining him with the Red Storm.)
Those four players didn’t understand the hours required or the attention to detail needed. They had to buy in and understand to hear his words through his tone.
Only after they adopted an unquenchable passion to win and improve and finally understood what Pitino wanted did St. John’s make the run at the NCAA Tournament that fell short last year. But two big positives happened as a result.
First, the four returning players made breakthroughs. Luis and Ejiofor went from being role players to first-team All-Big East selections. Wilcher improved his shooting and mental game. Dunlap built up his body and toughness.
Second, those four and Ibine Ayo became guideposts for the eight new transfers and high schoolers to understand The Pitino Way.
“There’s a way you play for [Pitino] and you have to adjust. We can speed that process up with this group coming back,” Wilcher said at an offseason appearance at the Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows. “The new players will have an [example] for how you’re expected to practice, to play, to live under Coach Pitino.”
Sure, money was involved in luring Richmond from Seton Hall, Deivon Smith from Utah, Aaron Scott from North Texas and Vince Iwuchukwu from Southern Cal. But that’s not the real story, Pitino explained.
“There’s a lot of misrepresentations about NIL. NIL didn’t get us this team because Zuby and RJ are very low-paid players,” he said. “Somebody asked me about Zuby and RJ [and] you don’t know what you are getting. Zuby didn’t even play at Kansas. RJ was a good freshman, solid, but you don’t know what you are getting. [Now] here’s two stars, very underpaid.”
When Pitino rebuilt Providence, Kentucky and Louisville, there was no NIL or portal. So he had more than just a handful of holdovers in the first year with which to build a culture. This time five was enough.
“Here, it’s a little different than the other places I’ve been the second year because you had eight or nine players back and everybody understands everything you teach and the culture and system are there,” Pitino said Sunday after learning the No. 2 Red Storm will play No. 15 Omaha in Providence on Thursday. “We’ve had four new [transfers] this year . . . but the work ethic is still there, the philosophies are still there, the culture is still there.”
The returning players were all aware of Pitino’s reputation for making big improvements in the second season. And for them, it was more about the commitment to winning than the money.
“Just look what he’s done — like me and Zuby’s progression,” Luis said earlier this month. “Obviously, you’ve seen what Coach P does from Year One to Year Two. It’s really special to be here.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
