St. John's Simeon Wilcher enters NCAA transfer portal
St. John's Red Storm guard Simeon Wilcher. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
When Simeon Wilcher decided that he would play for St. John’s and newly installed coach Rick Pitino in July 2023, it was big news. The 6-4 guard became the highest-ranked high school prospect the Red Storm had landed in more than a decade.
He became big news again for a different reason on Friday. Wilcher, who will be a junior, has decided to move on from St. John’s and put his name in the NCAA transfer portal.
It comes as a surprise. Pitino had spoken about the sophomore guard as a part of his plan for the 2025-26 season as recently as last week, when St. John’s was honored at Citi Field for winning the Big East regular-season and tournament championships. And at the same event, Wilcher said he would return.
“I’m just a big guy on loyalty,” he said about staying at St. John’s. “Kind of like to keep my feet grounded, where they are. And there’s things that I want to do better . . . next year.”
Wilcher started 25 games as St. John’s went 31-5 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six seasons before losing in the second round. He averaged 8.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 26 minutes per game.
Wilcher is the fifth Red Storm player to enter the transfer portal, joining RJ Luis Jr., Brady Dunlap, Jaiden Glover and Khaman Maker.
Pitino and the Red Storm have landed commitments from several transfers who play shooting guard, the position Wilcher started at last season. They’re bringing in Arizona State’s Joson Sanon, who committed in the last week of March, and Stanford’s Oziyah Sellers, who committed this week. They also are considered the favorites to land North Carolina transfer and Our Saviour Lutheran product Ian Jackson, who also is a wing.
Only Sanon had committed when the Red Storm were at Citi Field. When Pitino was asked about Wilcher’s future, he replied: “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.”
Wilcher, a point guard at Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, initially decided to attend North Carolina. He reopened his recruiting in April 2023 and ultimately picked St. John’s. He was seen as a point guard during his freshman season, backing up Daniss Jenkins, and played only nine minutes a game.
Before this past season, Pitino landed point guards Kadary Richmond from Seton Hall and Deivon Smith from Utah. Wilcher got far more time but mostly played off the ball. Pitino and the Red Storm have been combing the transfer portal for point guards the past month as Richmond and Smith have exhausted their college eligibility.
Wilcher thought he could be the guy to step into the role. Asked if he viewed himself as more of a point guard or shooting guard last week, he replied: “[I’m] more of a one [point guard] because that’s what I’ve played my whole life. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do sometimes to help the team up.”
Pitino saw it differently when he was asked if he could envision Wilcher playing point guard in 2025-26. He replied: “No . . . [he’s] a combo guard. That doesn’t mean he can’t play some one. We’re going to see who [we have].”
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.
