March Madness: St. John's chemistry a lesson in modern-day hoops
St. John's's RJ Luis Jr. (12) and Deivon Smith (5) celebrate with teammates after scoring during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Today’s era of college basketball has upended the old philosophy of how teams come together.
The transfer portal and NIL have eliminated long-term rebuilds and watered down the urgency of high school recruiting. The timeline to compete has become expedited.
After St. John’s disappointing finish to last season, which ended on Selection Sunday after it was left on the wrong side of the bubble, Rick Pitino retooled. The coach returned five players from the Red Storm’s 2023-24 roster and brought in one of the nation’s top-rated transfer classes.
Things came together quickly, and the chemistry — on and off the court — has been obvious.
“We’re a little bit more conditioned than most teams and we do whatever it takes to win,” Zuby Ejiofor said before last week’s Big East Tournament quarterfinals. “We’re a gritty team. We enjoy playing off each other and for each other. And you know, our whole motto all year is just do whatever it takes to win and we found ways to win, especially in the toughest moments.”
St. John’s (30-4), the No. 2 seed in the West Region, is not finished penning its story, which continued Thursday night in a first-round matchup against No. 15 Omaha (22-12) at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
The level of focus has amped up in tournament preparation, but St. John’s has had plenty of fun together all season.
“There’s no room for [slacking off],” Deivon Smith said after the selection show. “I’m not going to lie, we have a lot of fun in practice, laughing, joking and playing all day long. Some of that might have to cut out a little bit right now. It’s time to just dial it all in, lock in and it’s win or go home. So just more focus, more attention to detail.”
Smith, a transfer from Utah playing for his fourth power-conference program in five seasons, is in his first NCAA Tournament. Kadary Richmond, viewed by many as the top transfer in the 2024 cycle, came from Seton Hall. Aaron Scott left North Texas to join the fray.
In his second season at St. John’s after transferring from Massachusetts, Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. became a consistent starter for the first time. As did Ejiofor, in his second season under Pitino after transferring from Kansas. Simeon Wilcher has made 23 starts after only two as a freshman.
Even Pitino did not necessarily expect the success St. John’s has had: Big East regular season and tournament titles, 30 wins and a No. 2 seed.
“I don’t think I ever knew,” Pitino said Sunday. “I never really thought about it. I just kept taking it game by game, not taking anything for granted . . . I knew we were tough. I knew we were resilient. I did not know if we’d win the regular season and the Big East championship.”
St. John’s was 5-2 through its first seven games, including a 1-2 trip in The Bahamas with a heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Baylor and a three-point loss to Georgia. They have since won 25 of 27 games. Their four losses have come by a total of seven points.
St. John’s ranks No. 1 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com. On the morning of Nov. 25, the day after the loss to Georgia, it ranked 15th.
“The beginning of the year, we weren’t the most connected team in The Bahamas at all, but that’s going to happen to all of us every year,” Pitino said Wednesday. “Now next year, we’ll have about six or seven players returning and that’ll be a major benefit. First year I took over, we had 14 new players, and this year we have four new starters.
“The bad thing — I have always said I don’t mind the NIL, I don’t mind the portal — the thing that’s difficult for a coach is to get players connected offensively, defensively and bonded because they’re all new to each other. It takes time. By the time we got into January, we were a very connected team. We bonded very well, and I think those losses early on made us bond, so it was a good thing.”
Pitino honored. Pitino was named the recipient of the Henry Iba Award as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s national coach of the year. It is Pitino’s first Henry Iba Award. He will be honored on April 17 at the USBWA Awards Dinner in St. Louis.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
