St. John's Media Day Q&A

I decided to email St. John's at the beginning of September to see if I could get into Media Day, little did I know I'd be there on October 17. It was a great experience and I got to interview the majority of the Red Storm team. So this article, while released a little while after media day, will provide you with all the answers to questions that some of you have been wanting to know. For the majority of players, there will be two questions.

Sadiku Ibine Ayo

Ayo is a sophomore forward coming off his first season under Rick Pitino at Iona. He was a player that came off the bench but was beneficial in most situations. I asked Sadiku if staying with Pitino and some of the Iona guys who also came over helped him feel more comfortable when he first transferred, and the answer was heartwarming, to say the least. Sadiku said, "He text me like his son, so coming with him here was like, there is nothing I'm worried about." He said that it was a really important thing that this happened as well, so that was good to hear. I also asked him how he felt about staying local to where he played high school, that being Our Savior Lutheran in the Bronx, and he said it is very helpful to him. Ibine Ayo moved to New York from his home in Asabi-Kumasi, Ghana, to pursue his basketball dreams, so family isn't something he really had coming here. Sadiku also happens to be a massive Chelsea FC fan, so he and I were able to bond over the 2021 Champions League win by talking about what we were doing when it happened.

Jordan Dingle

Dingle is one of the key additions to this squad, coming off a season where he averaged 23.4 points a game for Penn, good for second in the nation. He is a prolific scorer and scored over 20 points a whopping 22 times. He also happened to play in the same conference as Chris Ledlum, who is now his teammate with the Red Storm. I asked Jordan if he has been able to help Chris gameplan for opponents using what he did to gameplan for him, and his answer was both based on Chris and the team as a whole. He said Chris is, "such a great player because he is really dominant and effective at what he does." Dingle also said, "I’m excited that you know he’s finally on my team and I think that it’s going to be something really exciting, not just with his ability but with all the talent we have on this team it’s going to be really hard to scout and prepare for us." Now this difficulty of scouting the team is based upon the system that Pitino employs, which is that anybody could play, and nobody is a guaranteed bench rider. My next question was how Coach Pitino could help refine his game, which Dingle gave a good answer to. He said, "Coach P’s attention to detail is something that has been really impressive and important for me so far." He also mentioned that Pitino does individual meetings, stating, "He notices things not just about the team but our individual games and he’ll pull us to the side and we’ll have meetings saying, “you really need to focus on this,” or “I noticed this about your game.” He’ll point them out, you know he has so much basketball knowledge that it’s been really helpful for all of us to learn from him." Shows how precise Pitino is in his craft and how he makes sure to perfect each player's game.

Nahiem Alleyne

Part of last year's national champion UConn Huskies team, Nahiem Alleyne has elected to use his extra year granted by COVID to play under Rick Pitino as a grad student. Alleyne was a role player with the Huskies but had a solid impact on the team en route to the national championship. Coming off that national championship though, I asked Nahiem how he felt coming off the title and how he plans to keep that mentality. He said that he brings that mentality, and that, "These guys (teammates at SJU) always ask me every day about that run, I just give them that mentality, little preparation and details. That’s what matters, and they always follow through." Hopefully, he is able to use that mentality to support this team in their journey to a title. Now, seeing as he comes from another Big East team, I thought he might have some wisdom on the Big East itself. I asked him how he can transfer what he learned about teams at UConn to what he does at St. John's, and he said, "Going into Big East games it’s always going to be a dogfight, no matter who we are playing. Could be DePaul, Butler, or Marquette. At UConn, the game plan was always just to play as hard as the other team and I feel like coming here you know, 14 new guys, get to know each other. I feel like we're improving every day, to build that bond and connection." Definitely, the wisdom that was looked for.

Daniss Jenkins

One of the most impactful men at Iona last year, Jenkins was a must-get for Rick Pitino when he flipped over to St. John's. The graduate transfer was the only Gael to play in every game, averaging 15.6 a game. However, the path to getting into St. John's was not the easiest for Jenkins. Having already transferred twice, from Pacific to Odessa and then Iona, Jenkins had to complete his education over the summer or he was not able to play in the upcoming season. I asked him what impact this had on him during practice, and he said he wasn't even allowed to practice, but that didn't stop him from helping in practice. Daniss said he, "just watched (practice) and trying to tell them (players) what coach expected, how the coaches should be, how to run the play. Just little things like that." A good way to make an impact without breaking any rules that are set by the NCAA. Going back to the first question I asked Sadiku, I also asked Daniss about how coming to Queens with Rick helped ease him into the new place, which was followed by an answer similar to Sadiku's with a touch of his own. Jenkins said, "I mean it's helped a lot, but St. John's has done a good job welcoming all of us. They (the program and fans) wanted change in a good way. They wanted a new coach, they want to win, no one wants to lose." He speaks for all of us when saying nobody wants to lose, along with wanting to win.

Simeon Wilcher

Wilcher is one of two freshman gets for Coach Pitino, but he wasn't supposed to be with the Red Storm originally. Wilcher, the 28th-ranked player in the ESPN 100 for 2023, committed to North Carolina all the way back in October of 2021, but he requested a release from his letter of intent to the Tar Heels in June of this year. That was quickly followed by a visit to Queens and a commitment to the Red Storm, giving Pitino his biggest recruit since taking over the team. I asked Simeon why he made the switch from UNC to SJU, and if it had to do with anything that Pitino said or did. However, it wasn't what Coach did, it's what he has done. Wilcher said, "It was just coach giving me the opportunity to play under him. It's really one that you can't turn down because he is a Hall of Fame coach and he has been doing this for a really long time. He puts players in the NBA where they want to go and that is really what I want to do." Similar to Dingle, I asked Wilcher what he has learned so far and how it has helped him improve, and the answer was almost identical. Wilcher said, "So what we have, like, we have individual workouts with coach Pitino so he focuses on like, for more he wanted to really focus on coming tight off screens and, just not second guessing myself." This is likely a shift from how practice went in high school to how it goes in college, which leads to my next question of how the switch from high school to college was, and if it was an up in intensity. His response was simple but effective at answering the question. Wilcher said, "Most definitely, like, there are a lot of things that are different. Like college basketball is night and day, with high school it’s different. So of course it’s gonna be a challenge, but I feel like I’m getting comfortable with college basketball." It's a good thing he is getting comfortable because you want your players to settle in before the season.

Chris Ledlum

Another Ivy League transfer, Ledlum originally transferred to Tennessee but then made the switch over to St. Johns a little while later. Going back to what I asked Jordan Dingle, I asked Ledlum how playing against Dingle has been helpful to him when helping Jordan gameplan for his opponents, and the answer was similar. Ledlum said, "Well, I think it will help a lot. I mean, obviously, we played against each other a couple of times in the past couple of years, and he’s a great player so I think that our knowledge of one another helps us with playing with each other and building chemistry together." Chemistry is a big word that has appeared multiple times so far and will come up more throughout this article. Ledlum is from Brooklyn, so making the switch to Queens is a homecoming for him. I asked him what importance playing local to where he grew up has to him, and he kept it short and sweet. he said, "It's extremely important. I mean playing in front of my friends and family is a really big thing for me and it’s really exciting."

Joel Soriano

When all the reporters were told that they could start interviewing the players, I dashed to Joel's table to ask him a couple of questions. My first was about what the term captain meant to him, as he was dubbed by Rick Pitino at the initial presentation of Pitino as coach of the Red Storm. Joel said it's somebody that "can't really have an off day," and "brings 110% every time he steps on the court." Along with "somebody that's a leader on and off the court." He did say, however, that a couple of people have also been leading the team, those players being Daniss Jenkins and Chris Ledlum. Soriano said he is just learning what the players do like, what they dislike, and how to approach them on the court. My other question was how chemistry is being built with the team, and it seems to be through just bonding. Joel said it's his first team that he feels bonds well off the court. He mentioned some of the activities the team does, saying "We watch games together, we go out to eat. Like the other day about 12 of us went out to eat, and the other guys had class. We do fun activities, we went bowling one time." Seems like the team has taken a liking to each other quickly, which is good news to hear before the season gets underway.

RJ Luis

Luis came from UMass to play for the Red Storm under Coach Pitino. One of my questions was about his fractured hand, and all he had was a pun about it, but he had a cast on. My other question was about his free throw shooting, which is very above average at 80%. I asked him how he blocks out the noise, and he said it's just getting that confidence. In full he said, "I mean you know the noise is there, but it’s really just about reps, just feeling confident at the line. They are free throws, so like concentrate, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself."

Zuby Ejiofor

From being under Bill Self to jumping to Rick Pitino, Zuby Ejiofor has been under some historic coaches in his two years of college basketball. The now sophomore was a bench player at Kansas but will seemingly get a bigger role with the Red Storm. One thing Zuby shares in common with Cruz Davis and Daniss Jenkins is that they all grew up in Texas, so I asked Zuby if the Texas link has helped build chemistry. This was followed by Zuby saying that Cruz was actually a big part in getting him over to Queens. He said, "I’ve been knowing him (Cruz) for a while, even before I committed, and he was a part of the reason why I’m here. He hit me up on Instagram and told me to give this place (SJU) and chance and I did and now I'm here. So those guys and, like I said Cruz was a bit of a reason why I’m here." Going back to Self and Pitino, my next question was about the difference between Pitino and Self, specifically what Pitino has taught Zuby that Bill Self did not. This question is not a diss to Bill Self, as he is one of the most decorated coaches to ever do it, so do not get any of this twisted. Zuby's answer was respectful but good, mentioning how Pitino allows him to expand his game much more. He said, "They are both great coaches and I’m lucky I played underneath both of them. I’m really excited for Coach Pitino and he’s really big on skill development. So he’s expanding my game a lot more now, I’m able to take a lot more shots, especially from behind the three-point line. That has been the biggest factor that I’ve seen." He also added that the biggest difference is just being able to do more than the poster.

Brady Dunlap

The second of two freshmen on this Red Storm team, Brady Dunlap hails from Newhall, California, all the way across the country. Before anything else, I asked Brady how his ankle was feeling, which was sprained during the open practice a couple of weeks back. He said it's perfectly fine now, and it was just a precautionary thing to make sure he didn't injure it further. Making a move across the country is no easy thing to decide, especially when it is for college, but I asked Brady if the decision was influenced by anything Rick said or did. This question was also asked to Simeon Wilcher, but the move for him was from New Jersey, so not far at all. Brady said the move was helped by intel from his dad, who also happens to be a college coach himself, most notably coaching Western Michigan for two tenures. The decision also was attributed to Rick's resume, which is similar to what Simeon said. Brady said the move was because of, "His (Pitino's) resume, what he has done for his players in the past. My dad is a college coach, and he has coached against Coach Pitino and scouted his teams and he has always said that Coach Pitino is the best coach he’s ever coached against. So when he (Pitino) became interested in me, I was immediately intrigued by Rick’s resume and history of winning, and I love winning." My final question was about the shift from high school to college, and Dunlap said it has been going well. He mainly attributed it to being on such a competitive high school team, saying that they won the state championship and have played against many of the top prep schools. He did mention some of the adjustments though, saying "Just the speed and the strength has been my biggest adjustments." However, he did compliment his high school coach saying, "I think my coach at Harvard-Westlake has done very well at preparing me for college."

So that just about does it for me and my media day coverage. I hope you all enjoyed your time reading through this and gained some good knowledge about the team while you were at it. I will be at Big East Media Day as well so expect another article soon. Thank you and go Johnnies!