St. John's gets commitment from Columbia guard Avery Brown
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino celebrates a victory against Kansas in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 22, 2026, in San Diego, Calif. Credit: Getty Images/Sean M. Haffey
If you don’t think St. John’s has picked up the pace in building next season’s roster, just ask new Red Storm commit Avery Brown about it.
On Tuesday, the Columbia senior got his first call from Rick Pitino’s coaching staff. By the end of Thursday, the 6-4 point guard had worked out for the Hall of Famer, toured the Garden and was canceling scheduled visits to Boston College and BYU. He’d also been contacted by Marquette and Georgetown.
“I want to work hard and I want to win,” Brown told Newsday. “After just being coached in the high-intensity workout with coach Pitino, I know I can contribute now and be a better player at the end.”
Brown had initially committed to Kansas State out of high school before then-coach Bruce Weber was fired and he then pivoted to Columbia.
He was limited to three games this past season after suffering several facial fractures in a loss to UConn and medical redshirt gives him another year of eligibility. In his last full season, Brown averaged 11.1 points and 2.8 assists in 27.4 minutes.
Brown shapes up to be part of the Storm’s rotation this coming season. Roles will be determined but he could easily be the backup for elite British point guard Quinn Ellis from the EuroLeague, who committed last week.
“He has a maturity that [Pitino’s staff] values, is strong and has a great attitude,” a source familiar with the situation said.
Brown said that at the end of the visit, Pitino “was like ‘we want to be sure you don’t go on those other visits,’ and I was like ‘all right coach — I am in.’”
7-1 Diop next up for Storm
The Red Storm were scheduled to begin hosting highly-coveted 7-1 Massamba Diop of Arizona State. Diop’s only other visit was to Gonzaga last weekend and he left without committing.
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.
