LEXINGTON, Ky. — In modern-day college basketball, the concept of a transition period has largely disappeared.
The transfer portal has become an equalizer, allowing new head coaches the chance to immediately remake their programs into contenders on both the conference and national levels.
And when that head coach is already in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, an entire roster can be altered in an instant.
That’s exactly what’s happened in recent weeks with Rick Pitino at St. John’s University.
The former Iona, Kentucky, Louisville and Providence head coach (among a variety of other coaching stops) has quickly gotten to work remaking the Red Storm roster since he was named head coach of the Big East school in March after Mike Anderson was fired (Anderson is seeking $45.6 million from St. John’s in the fallout from his dismissal).
This has included bringing in some talented transfers via the NCAA transfer portal, as well as stealing some class of 2023 recruits that weren’t initially planning on going to St. John’s.
“The most impressive part of Rick Pitino’s first couple months at St. John’s is his ability to completely take over that roster and comfortably fill it in,” said Ethan Bock, who analyzes college basketball transfer players for The Portal Report and also covers West Virginia men’s basketball for West Virginia Sports Now.
“As soon as he arrived, he made it known that not everyone was safe. They had plenty (of players) enter the portal and his staff goes out and recruits the transfers with ease. That’s why he’s a Hall of Famer.”
During a time when the commonwealth’s two flagship basketball programs have had differing levels of success in the transfer portal — although both are bringing in top-10 recruiting classes nationally — it’s worth taking a look at what the man who used to lead the Cards and Cats has done in this regard in his return to high-profile college basketball coaching.
St. John’s sees major roster change with Pitino as head coach
Anytime a head coaching change occurs in college basketball, significant roster turnover is to be expected.
There are players who will leave the school, players who may no longer go to the school and players in the transfer portal who may have never considered that program, until the new coach arrived.
St. John’s has run the gamut of these roster changes this offseason.
From last year’s St. John’s squad — which went 18-15 overall, 7-13 in the Big East and missed out on the national postseason — a whopping 11 players won’t be returning.
Of those 11, nine are players who entered the transfer portal.
This crop of players represents some of St. John’s most important on-court contributors from last season.
David Jones (13.2 points per game), Posh Alexander (10.2), Andre Curbelo (9.6), Montez Mathis (9.6) Dylan Addae-Wusu (9.3) and AJ Storr (8.8) all ranked among St. John’s top-seven scorers.
Jones was one of several potential transfer portal targets for Kentucky this offseason who opted not to come to Lexington.
Furthermore, the only player of significance expected to return to the Red Storm for Pitino’s first season as head coach is fifth-year center and New York-native Joel Soriano, who averaged a double-double (15.2 points and 11.9 rebounds) and started all 33 games last season.
Soriano, a second-team All-Big East honoree last season, will be joined by a plethora of new talent in Queens, with 12 new players set to arrive and replace the outgoing talent.
Ten of these players are transfers from other schools:
While six of these players (Sean Conway, Jordan Dingle, Daniss Jenkins, RJ Luis, Quinn Slazinski and Glenn Taylor Jr.) averaged double-digit points per game last season at their previous college stops, the headline addition is clearly Dingle.
A former Ivy League Player of the Year at Penn, Dingle averaged more than 23 points per game last season and shot better than 55% on two-point shots, better than 35% on three-point shots and better than 85% on free throws.
Both Bock and Tristan Freeman, who covers college basketball nationally for FanSided’s Busting Brackets site, told the Herald-Leader that Dingle is the most impactful addition for the Johnnies ahead of the 2023-24 season.
“Dingle gives this new-look St. John’s squad a guy to go to early, if that guy isn’t established early,” Bock said.
“He’s the top scorer to enter the transfer portal and will be a great one-two scoring punch with Joel Soriano,” Freeman added.
When looking at the transfer additions for St. John’s, a balance between mid-major stars and experienced high-major players is noticeable.
Nahiem Alleyne won a national championship last year at UConn. Zuby Ejiofor played in 25 games last season for the defending national champions, Kansas. Taylor was a 2022 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team selection at Oregon State.
Then there are the four transfers from Pitino’s previous head coaching stop, Iona.
Three of those players appeared in the Gaels’ opening round NCAA Tournament loss to UConn in March. The other — Slazinski — is a former Louisville Cardinal.
“The fact that he remained patient and waited until he landed targets that truly were interested,” Freeman said when asked what the most impressive part of Pitino’s roster transformation has been. “He didn’t get into un-winnable recruiting battles and still built a roster that can win both now and later.”
St. John’s will also bring in two freshmen this summer, including a former North Carolina signee.
Three-star small forward Brady Dunlap committed to St. John’s in early May, which gave Pitino his first high school pledge since taking over the Red Storm.
Then on Monday, a haymaker arrived when former UNC signee guard Simeon Wilcher committed to St. John’s.
A four-star guard who is ranked as the No. 34 recruit overall in the 2023 class by the 247Sports Composite, Wilcher committed to North Carolina in October 2021, but requested a release from his national letter of intent with the Tar Heels this month.
By swooping in and landing the 6-foot-4 guard shortly after his recruitment opened again, Pitino showed he’s still more than capable of carrying high-level recruiting power.
What are fair expectations for Pitino in his first St. John’s season?
With so much roster turnover, but an established head coach leading the way, it can be difficult to peg what the correct expectations should be for St. John’s next season.
The Red Storm last made the NCAA Tournament in 2019 as a First Four team. But St. John’s hasn’t won a game in the Big Dance since 2000.
So with the 70-year-old Pitino now at the helm of what will likely be the most changed roster in college basketball, what should fans realistically expect from St. John’s in the 2023-24 season?
“It’s fair to say that St. John’s’ expectations year one under Pitino should be a competitive group,” Bock said. “I won’t throw it out there that they should finish top three in the Big East and make a tournament run, but they should be in the middle of the pack with the chance at making the tournament.”
Freeman was slightly more bullish on the Red Storm’s chances.
“This is a roster that’s more than capable of getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament,” Freeman said. “It’s hard to tell how far they could go until we see how these pieces fit together, but right now, the expectation should be a return to the Big Dance.”
The on-court result of this offseason of change is still months away from being displayed.
In the meantime, Pitino appears to be settling back into the familiar spotlight of being a high-major college basketball coach.
On Tuesday night, Pitino tossed out the first pitch before a New York Mets home game while wearing a St. John’s baseball jersey.
The catcher?
Former Louisville Cardinal and current NBA star Donovan Mitchell.
