In many ways, St. John’s came out of its seven weeks of summer workouts exactly as it went into them: The ultra-talented group believes it is a Top 10 team and possibly a Final Four contender.
As forward Dillon Mitchell put it: “We’ve got the team, we’ve got the guys, we’ve got the coach — for sure. It’s just about coming in every day and competing . . . just when we hit this hardwood, it’s ‘go time.’ The sky’s the limit for this team.”
Things morphed in other ways over the seven weeks. One of the most notable is that coach Rick Pitino has eschewed the concept of designating someone as the team’s point guard to instead go with what he’s calling a “point-less” system. Another is the ascent of freshman Kelvin Odih, whom Pitino called “one of the best players in the team.”
For the final workout, the Red Storm played an intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena and allowed media and a few so-called program “shareholders” to watch. Pitino even introduced each player — 10 of the 15 are new — and said of the group, “This is the finest collection of athletes I’ve had in 51 years — no egos.”
The “Blue” team starters were what appears to be the Red Storm’s starting frontcourt of Zuby Ejiofor, Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins plus guards Oziyah Sellers and Odih. The “White” team started Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon — both likely to go pro after the 2025-26 season — plus Dylan Darling, Sadiku Ibine-Ayo and Ruben Prey.
White scored the last eight points and prevailed 78-76 when Jackson took a steal for a layup with five seconds to play.
Since his decision to transfer from North Carolina, Jackson has been central in the national attention paid to the Storm. He is viewed as a potential NBA lottery pick and, after his transfer, Pitino said the Bronx product would be converted from a shooting guard with the Tar Heels to St. John’s point guard.
Jackson showed Tuesday he’s an elite scorer who can make shots on all three levels, though he did commit some turnovers. However, Pitino said his ballhandling isn’t behind the move away from traditional point guards like Daniss Jenkins, Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith.
“It has nothing to do with Ian — we just realized that we have so many good athletes that we’re going to run a ‘point-less’ system,” said Pitino, who also explained that Mitchell and Hopkins were the best distributors in summer workouts. “We didn’t expect this . . . Everybody handles the ball, everybody passes the ball . . . They’re all interchangeable parts. So, we’re running pure motion not because of a lack of anything. We’re running pure motion because everybody’s really physically skilled.”
Darling, the 2025 Big Sky Player of the Year at Idaho State, is more a prototype point guard and none of the players did more ballhandling Tuesday.
“He’s as tough as anybody in the country,” Pitino said. “[For] his size, he’s not afraid of anything. Fans are going to love Dylan Darling, [just] love him.”
Pitino hasn’t gone with freshmen much at St. John’s — not even blue-chipper Simeon Wilcher in 2023-24 — but he said the 6-4 Odih has outhustled even Ejiofor, the Storm’s top effort player, and might get significant minutes on this team.
“I played Donovan Mitchell and Terry Rozier,” Pitino said. “It depends on what type of freshmen they are . . . but Kelvin is going to play a lot because he’s one of the best players on the team.”
“He’s coming in with a great mindset and just going hard,” Ejiofor said. “Every single day, he’s given 100% effort and he reminds me of myself, honestly, even, probably — like coach said — gives more energy than me. I’m getting old, fellas.”
Odih, who is from Providence, Rhode Island, was among the scrimmage’s leading scorers before exiting with a left ankle injury. He left in a boot and on crutches.
“He has been the best motor of the summer — totally unexpected . . . blows everybody away,” Pitino said. “He’s relentless, unguardable, improved his jump shot. That’s so unusual for a freshman — I haven’t seen it.”
When asked about his “finest collection of athletes” remark, Pitino suggested he’s actually said “collection of people” and gave this assessment: “Look, we’re a very deep team . . . Now, if they can just defensively be as good as last year, if they can rise to the occasion defensively like last year’s team, they’ll be a hell of a team.”
Notes & quotes: Pitino said St. John’s will play a dozen dates at the Garden — an exhibition against Michigan, non-conference games with Alabama, Ole Miss and Iona, and eight Big East games — but he hopes a ninth conference game can be added . . . Austrian freshman Imran Suljanovic suffered a knee injury during summer workouts and Pitino said he can resume basketball activities in three weeks.
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.