St. John's Dylan Darling: An asset on offense, average defensively and the team's best option at point guard

There are a number of things that are confounding about 14th-ranked St. John’s 4-3 start. . And while the list is long, the most perplexing of them seems to be the point guard position and its current occupant, Dylan Darling.

Watch Darling on the floor and one sees a guy who goes all out, hustles every minute. He has quick hands, gets defections and makes steals. He sees the court well and makes good passes. And since Darling took over the starting job in the third game, Oziyah Sellers has moved to a more comfortable position off the ball and become a high-level scorer. He shot 10-for-13 from three-point range and scored 42 points in the first two games of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

However, Darling hasn’t exactly been an asset when covering the elite guards on St. John’s better foes. For example, in Monday’s loss to No. 15 Iowa State, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino eventually opted to put his best defender, forward Dillon Mitchell, on Cyclones point guard Tamin Lipsey.

Maybe Darling is exactly who is needed in Big East competition because of his hard-nosed style, but wouldn’t one have to be hesitant to have him guarding No. 5 Connecticut’s Solo Ball?

If only the numbers could tell an entire story and sort things out — but they just don’t.

Going into Wednesday’s loss against No. 21 Auburn in the Players Era Festival consolation round, Darling had been on the court for 111 minutes. During that time, St. John’s had outscored opponents by a stunning 100 points. (Notably, he didn’t play a minute in the Nov. 8 loss to Alabama because of a right calf strain.)

In the first two games of a tournament  in which St. John’s went a disappointing 1-2,  the Red Storm were 27 points better than their opponents with Darling on the floor and 11 points worse than them without him. The Red Storm offense clearly runs better with him in the game.

Darling played only seven minutes against Auburn in the third game and clearly was hampered by what Pitino calls a hamstring injury. The severity of the injury and whether he will be able to return for the Dec. 6 meeting with Ole Miss at the Garden is unclear.

Point guard perhaps is the one issue that has loomed longest over the St. John’s program since the end of last season. With Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith — who both played the position exceptionally — having exhausted their eligibility, it  probably was bound to be the case.

The Red Storm had just completed a 31-win season and earned their first NCAA Tournament victory in 25 years before a second-round ouster by Arkansas, and before you knew it, action in the NCAA transfer portal — college basketball’s version of free agency — was in full swing. And from that moment on, the Red Storm’s situation has assumed many looks.

There was the courting of Princeton transfer Xaivian Lee, who had an official visit with St. John’s but ultimately chose defending national champion Florida. There was the commitment from North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson and Pitino’s social media declaration of him as “our next great point.” St. John’s had blue-chip high school player Acaden Lewis in for a visit before the flirtation ended with a commitment to Villanova, where he is averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 assists, albeit against a lesser schedule.

And then there was the commitment from Darling, a prototypical point guard and the 2025 Big Sky Player of the Year. At the time, he was viewed as a backup point guard and possible insurance policy if converting Jackson from shooting guard to point guard didn’t work out.

As the summer was ending, Pitino raised more than a few eyebrows when he said the Red Storm wouldn’t need a point guard in the motion offense and even suggested the point guard position has become obsolete. Then, on the eve of the season, Sellers emerged as his choice to play point guard.

Though he didn’t play a minute against Alabama because of the calf injury, Darling was installed to start at point guard the very next game and has held that role since.

More to ponder: St. John’s has faced three nationally ranked teams with an opportunity for a signature win and lost them all. Darling didn’t face the Crimson Tide and  clearly was diminished against Auburn. He fouled out against Iowa State with the Red Storm down three; they got the lead back without him before losing.

Here’s where Darling’s line stands: He’s averaging 4.5 points, 3.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 19.8 minutes per game. He is shooting 9-for-25 overall and 1-for-13 from three-point range. Also notable: Outside of Imran Suljanovic, who was lost to season-ending surgery before the first game, Darling  is the only player who has missed time because of injury.

So what is one to make of him? He’s been very good as a starting point guard and the offense has worked well with him in that spot. He hustles but essentially is average defensively.

Pitino has a reputation for turning solid players into great ones — though usually he’s had more than one season to do it — and we could see improvements in parts of Darling’s game as the season progresses.

But the bottom line is that until another St. John’s player steps to the fore and proves he can do better at the point — a list that includes Jackson, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Casper Pohto — Darling is the best option.

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

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.