St. John's: 5 questions facing program this offseason

St. John’s season officially ended with the second-seeded Red Storm’s 75-66 upset loss to No. 10 Arkansas on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 2024-25 season was a historic one for St. John’s, which tied a program record with 31 wins, made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years, earned its first Big East Tournament title and its first March Madness victory since 2000 and claimed its first outright Big East regular-season championship since 1985.

But despite a long offseason ahead, Rick Pitino and St. John’s have no time to rest. The NCAA transfer portal opens Monday.

Here are five questions facing St. John’s this offseason:

1. What unfolds with RJ Luis Jr. and the NBA Draft?

There is no doubt that the Big East Player of the Year is going to declare for the NBA Draft. He surely will train for and then work out with a number of NBA organizations as he tries to get a feel for whether he would be drafted and, if so, how high. If he doesn’t like what he hears, he can withdraw his name from the draft and return to college.

The question is whether that would be to St. John’s.

In the season-ending loss to the Razorbacks on Saturday, Pitino decided to keep Luis on the bench for the final 4:56. Certainly, Luis was having his worst game of the season. As Pitino pointed out when asked why after the game, “You know he was 3-for-17 [shooting]. You know he was 0-for-3 [on three-point attempts].”

And Luis said, “For me not to be able to be on the court the last couple of minutes just to help my team win, it hurt me.”

All season long, Pitino advocated for Luis, heaping praise and, when asked, saying he was having a Player of the Year season. But one has to wonder if there will be a residual effect from the events and words from Saturday.

2. Who is going to be the point guard?

St. John’s tandem of Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith proved an excellent pairing for running the offense.

A looming question when both transferred to St. John’s was how two players who are used to having the ball could play together. As the Red Storm got into Big East play, they jelled beautifully.

“It took time and sacrifice and understanding,” Richmond said earlier this month at a team appearance at the Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows. “We both came from places where we had to almost do everything offensively, make plays, score, rebound . . . Coming together and just being around each other for a long period of time, practicing on the same team and just getting confidence and gaining trust in one another was helpful.”

Both, as well as forward Aaron Scott, have to be replaced, and Pitino already has said that one doesn’t replace players like that with high school blue-chippers. In fact, St. John’s didn’t recruit high school players for next season at all. So a lot of it depends on which players put their names in the portal.

3. Will Pitino bring in players to make the team longer and more athletic?

St. John’s didn’t see a team that was long and athletic like Arkansas all season. And while Pitino put the loss on the Red Storm’s poor offensive performance, he is always thinking about NCAA Tournament success. Given that he is replacing at least three players, will he be thinking about the kind of athletes who could have better matched up against teams like the Razorbacks?

4. How will they become a better-shooting team?

St. John’s ranked in the bottom 10% of Division I in three-pointers and three-point field goal percentage. The team won 31 games in spite of that, but it was a weakness that surely needs to be addressed.

The answers are likely to come from both outside and inside the program.

They will have an eye on shooters in the portal, of course, but some answers could come in player development. One example is Lefteris Liotopoulos, who is an excellent shooter but needs to develop other parts of his game to be part of next season’s rotation.

5. How can they capitalize on this season’s success?

The Red Storm have brought back a lost generation of fans and created a new one by going 31-5 and making the NCAA Tournament.

Certainly there could be an increase in NIL funding from supporters to sustain the success. There also could be more games scheduled at the Garden.

And St. John’s success and exposure — appearing on “The Tonight Show” and being the subject of a Vice TV docuseries — has made it nationally relevant.

The idea of playing in New York and at the Garden and being coached by Pitino could make it a destination for top players.

With Ben Dickson

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

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.