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| St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino (second from left), Mets legend John Franco (third from l.) and players Zuby Ejiofor (left) and Vince Iwuchukwu (right) on Wednesday morning at Citi Field. Photo by Jason Schott. |
On Wednesday, the Mets honored the St. John's Red Storm Men's Basketball team after their historic season, in which they won the Big East Regular Season championship and Tournament and winning their first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years.
Head Coach Rick Pitino, most of the Red Storm players, and St. John’s alumnus and New York Mets Hall of Famer John Franco were on hand for the occasion.
St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor had the honor of throwing out the first pitch to Franco, and he said of that honor, “I have never played baseball in my life, so I thought I threw a pretty good pitch. It was a strike… I’m going to give the ball to my family. I know they were tuned in and they are my biggest supporters.”
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| Zuby Ejiofor throws the first pitch to John Franco, as his teammates line the area around home plate. Three photo sequence by Jason Schott. |
Franco, who attended most of St. John's games this past season, said of what it was like watching one of the best basketball teams in their history, "As a former athlete, a former student and alumnus, I'm so happy that Coach (Pitino) and they guys built on the year they had last year (20 wins in the 2023-24 season). Going to The Garden and watching them play, it was just an amazing season. People haven't seen this since their college days back at The Garden. The alumni are so happy with the way the team has been playing and continues to play.
"The last Italian coach got us there, and now this Italian coach is going to get us where we have to go. (Lou) Carnesecca was my guy and now we have Pitino. So, we got this thing covered with the Italians. I think they did a great job and all these kids should be applauding the season they had."
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| Rick Pitino, flanked by John Franco (right) and Zuby Ejiofor (left). Photo by Jason Schott. |
PITINO POINTS: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino's comments in his first appearance since the NCAA Tournament:
On what he admires about this past season: “I think that I certainly admire what the players did this year because what people didn't realize, the next day when it ended, Kadary Richmond and Aaron Scott both had surgery. We were a pretty banged-up basketball team at that point. But I still, more than anything else, admire Kadary and Aaron fighting through a lot of pain. The season they had, we played a lot of close games, and they always came out at halftime and gave it every ounce of preparation they had in them.”
On what he wants the team to improve on this off-season: "We wanted to get better after the first year, defensively, we accomplished that this year. Houston and us going back and forth as the number one defensive team. And now we want to get we want to keep sustaining that defensive prowess, now we want to make sure that we're better offensively. And it's very difficult for newcomers to come in and at this stage and understand what these guys understand, because they've been through every drill, they know what to expect."
On the individual strides the players can make: Zuby was always there, but we have guys on our team, like Vince (Iwuchukwu), like Ruben (Prey), like Lefty (Lefteris Liotopoulos), that got significantly better. You saw it in spots, but they got significantly better, and always in the second year. You saw with Zuby, his second season, I’m expecting Vince, Rubin and Lefty in the second season to make great strides, along with the other guys coming.”
On the off-season so far: “Well, we've gotten back on the court. The first day was just interesting, [the team] didn't do too much I could see, but we're back. I went to Milan right away as soon as the season ended… So, we're excited to put this team together. We think sustaining it is always difficult, but there's no doubt in my mind we will accomplish that feat. We have the right nucleus back.”
On what improvements his team needs: Zuby [Ejiofor] has to improve; every guy here is going to get significantly better, just for their futures, not necessarily for our team. But Zuby has got to get better at when the center plays drop coverage and just hitting the three and not thinking about it. Vince [Iwuchukwu] is going to get a lot better with ball handling on the perimeter and a little bit with his passing. Ruben [Prey] needs to get better at shooting the basketball. [Simeon Wilcher] is a terrific shooter, but he's got to get it off quicker. So, we all have little things that we've got to improve on, and we will work. Their work ethic is tremendous.”
On what he wants the team to improve on this off-season: "We wanted to get better after the first year, defensively, we accomplished that this year. Houston and us going back and forth as the number one defensive team. And now we want to get we want to keep sustaining that defensive prowess, now we want to make sure that we're better offensively. And it's very difficult for newcomers to come in and at this stage and understand what these guys understand, because they've been through every drill, they know what to expect."
On the individual strides the players can make: Zuby was always there, but we have guys on our team, like Vince (Iwuchukwu), like Ruben (Prey), like Lefty (Lefteris Liotopoulos), that got significantly better. You saw it in spots, but they got significantly better, and always in the second year. You saw with Zuby, his second season, I’m expecting Vince, Rubin and Lefty in the second season to make great strides, along with the other guys coming.”
On the off-season so far: “Well, we've gotten back on the court. The first day was just interesting, [the team] didn't do too much I could see, but we're back. I went to Milan right away as soon as the season ended… So, we're excited to put this team together. We think sustaining it is always difficult, but there's no doubt in my mind we will accomplish that feat. We have the right nucleus back.”
On what improvements his team needs: Zuby [Ejiofor] has to improve; every guy here is going to get significantly better, just for their futures, not necessarily for our team. But Zuby has got to get better at when the center plays drop coverage and just hitting the three and not thinking about it. Vince [Iwuchukwu] is going to get a lot better with ball handling on the perimeter and a little bit with his passing. Ruben [Prey] needs to get better at shooting the basketball. [Simeon Wilcher] is a terrific shooter, but he's got to get it off quicker. So, we all have little things that we've got to improve on, and we will work. Their work ethic is tremendous.”
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| Rick Pitino talks about the growth of St. John's. Photo by Jason Schott. |
On his love for New York Baseball and growing up as a Yankees fan: “Well, as a kid, I used to go watch Micky Mantle, Roger Maris, even reserves like Edgar Lopez, Johnny Blanchard, Kubek, Richardson, Cletus, Boyle and Rick Clark, Whitey Ford on the mound, Yogi. You grow up as a youngster, sitting in the bleachers for $1.18 at the time. But I was also a Met fan and I’m one of the few people who rooted for both teams. Anything with NY on it, I'm 100% behind it.”
On reviving the St. John’s brand: "You know, it's one thing to win 31 games, the BIG EAST Regular season, win the BIG EAST Tournament and make the NCAA Tournament. But the other day, some people said, ‘We really, really can't wait for the Final Four,’ and I think they were just dying to get into the NCAA tournament, and now they're talking Final Four. That, to me, is the building of a brand a lot quicker. Our brand right now has taken a lot of work by a lot of people, but it starts with winning. You can't build a brand unless you win. It starts with an exciting style of play, which the players are doing night in and night out, a great schedule, which we're doing. We're probably going to play nine to 10 games in The Garden next year. So, we're building this brand to be something special in a year where Lou [Carnesecca] has passed.”
On how events like today or appearing on "The Tonight Show" help with recruiting: “I tell recruits this all the time. They ask about the Jimmy Fallon show. They'll ask about today. When we won a championship at Kentucky, we won a championship in Louisville, I’ve been to seven Final Fours - I was never invited on The Tonight Show, and I was never invited to throw pitches out. So, when you win in New York, everything gets magnified. It's the greatest city in the world, the greatest restaurants in the world, the greatest media in the world, the financial capital of the world, and everything's great about it when you win. When you lose, as some teams have gone through some pains, it takes time to build it back up.”
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| St. John's players watching highlights of their season on the board ahead of the first pitch. Photo by Jason Schott. |
On turning around St. John’s: “In basketball, you can do it a lot easier. I did it with one player from New York, Jamal Mashburn, turned around a probation-ridden school at Kentucky. Turned around our fortunes, and right away, first year off probation, we won the SEC and then we're back in the Final Four. So, in basketball, you can turn it around, much easier than football, much easier than baseball. You can turn it around a lot quicker with three or four terrific basketball players, and right now, we've got six or seven terrific players returning. We'll add to it. We've already added to it with a couple players and some more ready to follow.”
On getting back to basketball: "We're anxious to get going again. These guys want to get back on the court. They're very hungry because they lost. I always remember losing to Kentucky in the 2011-12 season. I believe it was, and then the following year, we won the championship. So, these guys are very bothered by losing in the second round. They're very hungry to get back to it, but it starts with just the summer work, getting stronger, getting quicker, getting better, and they'll do it. It's a very dedicated group who really represents St John's in the right way. They really care about the name on the front. They're very selfless people. They never talk about themselves. And we have the most selfless leader I've coached in a long, long time in Kadary Richmond. The guy, no matter what he did, would never take any credit for himself, and he's going to try out for professional basketball, along with Deivon [Smith] and Aaron [Scott], and we hope they make it in a big way.”
On getting back to basketball: "We're anxious to get going again. These guys want to get back on the court. They're very hungry because they lost. I always remember losing to Kentucky in the 2011-12 season. I believe it was, and then the following year, we won the championship. So, these guys are very bothered by losing in the second round. They're very hungry to get back to it, but it starts with just the summer work, getting stronger, getting quicker, getting better, and they'll do it. It's a very dedicated group who really represents St John's in the right way. They really care about the name on the front. They're very selfless people. They never talk about themselves. And we have the most selfless leader I've coached in a long, long time in Kadary Richmond. The guy, no matter what he did, would never take any credit for himself, and he's going to try out for professional basketball, along with Deivon [Smith] and Aaron [Scott], and we hope they make it in a big way.”
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