Rick Pitino wants to bring 7-footer and stronger guards to St. John's next season
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino reacts during the second half of a game against Kansas in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 22, 2026, in San Diego. Credit: AP/Mark J. Terrill
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino has an explanation for why hot-shooting Ruben Prey didn’t get much playing time in the second half of last Friday’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 loss to Duke. He also would like to bring in a 7-foot center and better, more powerful guards via the transfer portal for next season. And he is mapping out another challenging schedule for the 2026-27 Red Storm.
All of these were among the many things Pitino shared in a video he recorded that was intended for consumption by the Red Storm’s most passionate fans and to be circulated without posting to social media, based on a copy of it obtained by Newsday.
“Am I disappointed in the Duke game? Yes, I am,” Pitino said in the video. “I thought we could beat them, but we had to shoot the three with great prowess and we had to outrebound them [and], obviously, you know the rebounding numbers 40-27].
“People ask me why I didn’t play Ruben Prey more . . . The reason is he doesn’t know the plays at the ‘4’ spot. He knows a couple, but we couldn’t run those plays, so it was either play Zuby [Ejiofor] or play him at center] and that was the difficult thing. Also, Dillon Mitchell as well as Bryce Hopkins were playing terrific.”
It was unsurprising that, in looking back, Pitino viewed the team’s backcourt play as a shortcoming, saying it “let us down in every big game.” He specifically pointed to the November losses to Alabama and Auburn and Friday’s loss to Duke and said of them “our backcourt got outplayed.”
To address this, he hinted that he and his staff will be looking for a stronger brand of guard in the NCAA transfer portal.
“Our backcourt, although it had good size except for Dylan Darling, they were weak [in the] lower body and got bullied to the basket quite often. That tells us something going forward.”
The Storm will need to replace Big East Player of the Year Ejiofor this offseason. Ejiofor was a special player in many ways but, at 6-9, was often going against taller centers. Pitino said he would like to rectify that. In looking at the teams that advanced furthest in the NCAA Tournament, he noted all have starting centers standing about 7-foot, but “we did not [and] that’s something we’re looking at strongly right now.”
Pitino also said “the schedule will be great once again next year.” The Storm are already booked to play at least three games at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas and a date against Alabama in Birmingham. But, as part of the plan for expanding the portfolio of games St. John’s plays at the Garden — as first reported by Newsday — from the 12 regular-season games and one high-profile exhibition, there are likely to be big-draw non-conference games there on the slate.
He also forecast a vastly improved Big East from what could only be described as “a down year” this season, with just three teams in March Madness. Pitino described the smaller spending programs as “totally committed” to increasing their roster budgets to compete with the top five of UConn, St. John’s, Marquette, Villanova and Creighton.
Pitino recently signed a restructured contract that can run three years or longer if he wishes. He also has said that he intends to spend two weeks ruminating about coaching next season. But the Hall of Famer urged those who were to view the video not to be concerned. He even concluded it by saying, “Look forward to next season.”
Ibine Ayo to enter portal: Red Storm captain Sadiku Ibine Ayo intends to transfer this offseason, according to multiple reports and confirmed by Newsday. After spending the past four seasons playing for Pitino at Iona and St. John’s, Ibine Ayo is seeking a destination where he can get more playing time in his final year of college eligibility. He played in only 30 of the Storm’s 37 games and averaged 7.8 minutes. He and Pitino are extremely close and the move resulted from dialogue between them.
There are likely to be other Storm players who choose to transfer via the NCAA transfer portal, which opens April 7 and closes April 21.
The St. John’s staff is holding its end-of-season “exit interviews” this week with players. At the end of this process last season, several players transferred out, including Simeon Wilcher (Texas), Brady Dunlap (St. Louis), Jaiden Glover-Toscano (St. Joseph’s), Vince Iwuchukwu (Georgetown) and Khaman Maker (DePaul).
Newsday’s Anthony Bottan contributed to this story.
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.
