St. John’s Basketball just landed the number one guard in the transfer portal, Kadary Richmond from Seton Hall. Richmond committed to St. John’s and coach Rick Pitino ESPN announced on Tuesday. Kadary Richmond really helped fuel Seton Hall’s NIT title run leading in scoring for the Pirates scoring 15.7 points per game and leading in assists with 5.1 assists per game. Along with being the teams top scorer Richmond was also the team’s highest-rated defender by a longshot. The 6-foot-5 guard is a tough, two-way player who can make a difference for a St. John’s team that is seeking to reach the NCAA Tournament under second-year head coach Rick Pitino.
St. John’s Basketball Gets Kadary Richmond To Complement This Young Star
Richmond is St. John’s second critical portal addition, as Point Guard Deivon Smith is also transferring to St. John’s from Utah, which was announced via ESPN on Monday. This gives coach Pitino a veteran replacement for Daniss Jenkins for next season. Deivon Smith is a fifth-year senior who’s ranked sixth in the country averaging 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game last season for Utah, compiling five triple-doubles which is the most by any player in pac-12 history. Two of Smith’s triple doubles came during Utah’s NIT run to the Semifinals, and he scored a career high 28 points against Indiana State who came in second in the NIT Tournament.
St John’s has loaded up its backcourt for the 2024-2025 season in a 24-hour span this week with back-to-back commitments from these highly regarded transfers. This duo will combine to give coach Pitino a formidable guard unit in the upcoming season ahead. A backcourt that should be among the best in the entire country, combining two elite playmakers who can score in all different kinds of ways. This could be the best guard duo since Russ Smith, and Peyton Siva who led the Louisville Cardinals to a national championship in 2013. This St. Johns Basketball team is building for a strong season ahead and a deep bracket run come march of next year.
What Other Transfers Can We Expected To See On The Court For The Red Storm In 2024-2025?
Along with Deivon Smith, and Kadary Richmond come a couple of other transfers that the Red Storm have landed this off-season. The Red Storm will be getting 7-foot-1 center Vincent Iwuchukwu from USC who averaged 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last season. The Red Storm will also have 6-foot-7 forward Aaron Scott from North Texas who averaged 11 points, and 5.6 rebounds per game last season. Both of these guys announced they were committing to St. Johns last month for the 2024-2025 season.
Sophomore Simeon Wilcher will be returning to St. John’s, who last season really began to show improvement in his game late in the season, but was limited in his role as a freshman. Rightly so, as Wilcher had to play behind Daniss Jenkins who followed coach Pitino from Iona to St. John’s for his senior season and was able to propel the Red Storm to a 20-13 record, and they reached the Big East tournament semifinals for the first time since 2000, losing 95-90 to the eventual national champion UConn Huskies.
The deadline for players to enter the transfer portal and be eligible next season passed on May 1, but the chaos isn’t over yet. Players who entered before the deadline still have ample time to choose their new school ahead of the 2024-2025 season. Those who are exploring NBA Draft options have until May 29th to withdraw if they would like to return to college next season. For more college and professional sports news don’t forget to follow @Crain_Sports1 on X(Twitter) and for more articles like this go to HardwoodHeroics.com and get up to date on everything going on around professional and college basketball
