Rick Pitino's intense summer practices have St. John's excited about upcoming season
St. John's men's basketball players signing autographs at Applebee's in Fresh Meadows on Wednesday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Deivon Smith had heard the legend about how rigorous a Rick Pitino-run practice is. Now he knows the truth. They really are that tough.
Smith, a 6-foot point guard who transferred to St. John’s from Utah, has been practicing with the Red Storm for about a month. On Wednesday night during a team autograph signing event at the Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows, he was asked if there have been any surprises in the transition.
“I’ve got to say how hard we play,” he replied. “We play a lot of 5-on-5 and there’s a lot of conditioning — that would probably be a surprise. But I like it.”
Smith and Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond are highly-touted point guards in the eight new faces who transferred or were recruited for the coming season. They are joining five holdovers — including rotation regulars RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor, Simeon Wilcher and Brady Dunlap — in what the returners are calling a more-athletic and better-shooting version of the Storm.
“We’ve got a lot of freak athletes on this team . . . and we’re going to be flying around the court a lot differently than we did last year,” Dunlap said. “I don’t know if we had the athletes to do all of the things that Coach Pitino wanted us to do last season. We do this year and it’s really going to show up in the defense and how prepared we are for the season.”
“You will see the press much earlier this season,” Wilcher said. “We want to start the season closer to what we can be than last year.”
Luis is working his way back from surgeries to repair shin splints in both legs that hampered him last season and hopes to start practicing closer to the start of the school year. He said, “The pain — I’ve got new legs now . . . My bounce isn’t all there yet — my fast-twitch muscles — because I haven’t jumped in so long.”
St. John’s didn’t make the NCAA Tournament last season despite going 20-13, finishing fifth in the Big East and reaching the conference semifinals. They lost a bunch of close conference games but more damaging were early season losses to unimpressive Michigan and Boston College squads.
“We’ve had talks about what it’s going to take to win these games and how it starts in the summer,” Smith said. “Basically we’re getting ready as if we play next week. [Pitino] is definitely interested in winning at a high level next year and he’s on us about it.”
St. John’s has improved its athleticism, speed and defense on the interior with additions like 6 foot, 8 inch North Texas transfer Aaron Scott and 7-1 Southern Cal transfer Vince Iwuchukwu. But the backcourt holds more intrigue.
Richmond, an All-Big East first teamer, is a playmaker who averaged 15.7 points and 5.1 assists last season. Smith led the Pac-12 in assists with 7.1 per game and averaged 13.3 points while making 41% of his three-point attempts. And Wilcher, a sophomore, is one of the most coveted recruits St. John’s has landed in years.
“A whole bunch of playmakers,” Richmond said. “It’s better to have more than one. It’s going to be a great thing to watch and a great thing to be a part of . . . [I see] a problem for multiple teams. There’s three different players who can really mesh well together and do different things to help a team win.”
“We’re going to operate well,” Wilcher said. “Nobody is selfish. We’re going to mesh together in every combination.”
Perimeter shooting was supposed to be a weakness, but it shapes up better for the coming season. Scott made 37% of his three-point attempts last season, Richmond said he has dedicated himself to improving his three-point shooting as the final obstacle to going pro, Smith is accomplished on the arc, and Wicher’s three-point shot is said to be vastly improved.
“[Wilcher] isn’t going to admit it but I’ll say it,” Dunlap said. “His shooting? He is just killing it in practice. He gets them off and he hasn’t been missing much. You can see the work he’s put in.”
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.
