St. John's may have righted ship, but questions remain at point guard
St. John's forward Dillon Mitchell attempts a layup against the Providence Friars in the second half of a Big East men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
PHILADELPHIA
Since the damaging loss to Providence at the Garden two weeks ago, St. John’s has looked like a team trending in the right direction.
The Red Storm entered Saturday night’s game against Villanova on a three-game winning streak that included a pair of Quad 1 road wins. They had an opportunity to become one of 14 teams with four Quad I wins this season (entering Saturday).
The reasons for the turnaround are numerous. One big one was coach Rick Pitino’s decision to move forward Dillon Mitchell into the starting lineup to provide additional ballhandling and playmaking. It’s been Pitino’s workaround for the conspicuous deficiency in roster construction regarding the point guard position.
The biggest question that begged answering for the Red Storm when they started the season labeled a “Final Four contender” has changed.
In October, the query was ‘‘have they really replaced Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith at point guard?’’
Then, after the Red Storm dropped all four games they played against teams that either are or have been nationally ranked, fell from the national rankings, got stripped of the contender label and began to play better, the question became “what if Pitino and his staff had landed a high-level point guard to fill that void?’’
Red Storm fans had a chance to contemplate that as St. John’s faced Villanova at Xfinity Mobile Arena in a game for sole possession of second place in the conference behind Connecticut. There was a chance they’d be staring a possible response right in the face in the form of Villanova freshman point guard Acaden Lewis.
There were suspicions — not certainty — that when Richmond and Smith exhausted their eligibility, point guard might become an issue as Pitino and his staff sought to fill the vacancy via the NCAA transfer portal.
They didn’t hit the mark with top targets Xaivian Lee (who chose Florida) and Silas Demary Jr. (who chose UConn) and instead went with a plan to convert Ian Jackson from a shooting guard to a point guard.
The sophomore has always been a great scorer and now is developing a point guard’s game, but he is not yet elite. The workaround with Mitchell — because of his skill set, vision and speed — could address a need while Jackson develops.
Lewis, though, provokes thought. St. John’s was interested enough to bring him to campus for a visit. He even posted on social media photos of himself in a Red Storm uniform in their locker room.
Then he committed to the Wildcats.
Entering play Saturday, Lewis had some very impressive averages: 12.7 points, 5.4 assists and 1.9 steals in 29.7 minutes. His assist-to-turnover ratio — a stat Pitino loves — was 2.9 and ranked third in the Big East.
What would St. John’s season have looked like if it had been able to land Lewis? Would it still be ranked? Would the ceiling for a very talented roster have remained high?
The sides never reached an agreement, though. These days, those things typically are a matter of money.
Those who like to speculate suggest their issue could have been Pitino’s record and statements about playing freshmen since his arrival at St. John’s.
Simeon Wilcher, the best high school recruit for the program in a decade, barely played as a freshman, and Pitino often has remarked that freshmen rarely defend well.
But there’s as much evidence to support that speculation as there is to debunk it. Neither Peyton Siva nor Russ Smith — the backcourt on his Louisville team that won the 2013 national championship — played much as freshmen. Terry Rozier and Donovan Mitchell played a lot in their first year with the Cardinals before becoming first-round picks after their sophomore seasons.
Wilcher averaged nine minutes his first season with the Red Storm, but he was battling for playing time with Daniss Jenkins, who now plays for the Detroit Pistons.
So the idea of a marriage between Lewis and the Red Storm isn’t good for much, aside from provoking thought. He’d played that well going into Saturday’s game.
St. John’s had success in significant Big East games using the Mitchell workaround before it faced the Wildcats. Maybe that can continue to bring success going forward. Or maybe Jackson will become the player Pitino needs.
The idea of Lewis donning a Red Storm uniform might have been worth contemplating this one night. Time will tell if anyone is still thinking about it in March.
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.
