St. John's At Big East Media Day

 

St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino joins his Big East colleagues in the annual Media Day portrait. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Big East Conference held its Basketball Media Day at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday morning, and St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino, and players Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor were on hand for the official start of the season.

HEAD COACH RICK PITINO: On the upcoming season: “We're excited about it. We have a long way to go, we got a week to prepare, so we have still have a lot of improvements to make before we open up. But each day, we're getting a little bit better at certain things. We’re anxious to see how we play this Saturday [against Towson], and then the following [Monday] is the opener against Fordham.”

On Kadary Richmond: “Well, there's really nothing he can't do. He has great hands, he scores, he rebounds, he knows the game extremely well, he's an outstanding passer. He has most of the skills you need to win, and to have a 6’6” point guard, it bodes well for mismatches as well.”

On his drive to continue coaching: “For somebody who's coached as long as I have, I can't live without teaching young players to play the game. I think my perspective on it all was I took two years off and didn't enjoy it. Even though I had a great life, great lifestyle down in Miami, ultimately, I didn't enjoy it. I missed it too much. So, I think I got a chance to recognize what it would be like without it, and I didn't like it too much.”

On the scoring depth of this team: “Honestly, I really think that one night RJ [Luis Jr.] is going to have that type of night, then it's going to be Simeon [Wilcher], then it's going to be Kadary [Richmond], then it’s going to be Aaron [Scott]. I think they're going to take turns. RJ was brilliant the other night [against Rutgers]. He had 22 points, and Kadary had nine rebounds, six assists, one turnover. So, if you can get three or four of those of that nucleus playing terrific, we're gonna be tough to beat.”

On if there is a benchmark he has in mind for his team: “I really am at the place right now, just to get better every single day and let the future take care of itself. If I've learned one thing about this game, I've been knocked out in the [NCAA Tournament] First Round and been to seven Final Fours. You can't predict the future. So, just try and get better every single day and that's what we've done. We've got a nice team this year because of it.”

Photo by Jason Schott.

GRADUATE STUDENT GUARD KADARY RICHMOND: On what he took away from last week’s game at Rutgers: “We have a good group, willing to pull out the wins. We will do anything to pull out the win. We came together the last eight or 10 minutes of that game and decided that we were going to get it done.”

On what the scrimmage meant to the team: “Although it didn't count towards our record or anything, I'd say, just showing the toughness we had to bounce back, letting us know where we are and the kind of team we are.”

On what made him pick St. John’s when transferring: “We spoke a lot about player development when I was in the portal, how it could make my jump shot better and make me a better overall player. So, I feel like that just stuck out to me.”

On what he learned about St. John’s after competing against them last season: “That they play very fast and they play very hard. They take pride in their defense. So, I think that's one of the things I learned since joining the team.”

On what he hopes to do in the season-opening game against Fordham: “Well, you know, I'm just going to do whatever I can to get my team the win - lead my team, make the right play the majority of the time while I'm out there and just compete.”

FORWARD ZUBY EJIOFOR: On his expectations for the season: “I have really high expectations for this group. Me and my family, you know, also have high expectations for what I could be able to do this year, having an increased role from last year. Towards the end of the season last year, I felt like I did some good things. So, to be able to build up on that would be huge for us. As far as what we have planned for expectations this year. We, plan to win a lot more games than we did last year. And the biggest thing is building on our chemistry, to be able to be aligned and think one of one main goal in winning the BIG EAST and hopefully going to the tournament this year and bringing a championship back to St John's.”

On building on his performance against Rutgers last week: “I just really felt like I really started off being aggressive, which is really good to me. The biggest thing this year is going to be confidence. I felt like I've always had it, but to have, Coach Pitino and the rest of my teammates and the staff, just giving me the confidence to be able to do the things that I did against Rutgers was really huge for me. I felt like I was comfortable on the court. I feel like being in this system last year, there was a lot of things that I felt like I've already done so to be able to do that against Rutgers was obviously huge for me.”

On being named a team captain alongside Kadary Richmond: “Fans can expect me and Kadary to be able to lead this group and bring it every single day. Just being the role model for the rest of the guys, being able to speak up in the high moments, the low moments, and rally this group to one main goal and winning a lot of games this year.”

On what it would mean to win a Big East Championship: “It would mean a lot. There's nothing like winning in New York. Coach has said a lot about, you know, his past teams, and being able to win it all, and the amount of love they have for each other. So, we're trying to experience that. I'm trying to experience that, winning it all, everything, so we can look back at it, you know, in the future, and talk about those moments of winning. So it would be huge for us and it’s going to be a really exciting year.”