Lateral quickness and lack of size — two shortcomings a season ago — shouldn’t be a problem this year for St. John’s.
Those were two qualities Rick Pitino brought up immediately when asked about his initial impressions of his new roster a month into summer workouts.
And that is without highly regarded Portuguese forward Ruben Prey and projected starting wing RJ Luis practicing yet.
There are two 7-footers in USC transfer Vince Iwuchukwu and freshman Khaman Maker, and high-caliber athletes such as Utah transfer Deivon Smith, Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond and Aaron Scott of North Texas.
“This is the most talent I’ve had since [my] late Louisville days in terms of depth, athleticism, speed,” Pitino said after a workout Wednesday. “It’s terrific because every day it’s highly, highly competitive. … Physically, it’s much different [from last season]. We’re much faster, much taller.”
The major additions this spring were star point guards Richmond and Smith, two players Pitino believes have NBA potential, along with Luis.
But Scott, who Pitino called his best defender so far, has also impressed.
The 6-foot-7 Scott and returning forward Zuby Ejiofor have been the Johnnies’ most consistent players in terms of effort in practice.
On any given day, however, St. John’s best player can be any number of guys.
Wednesday, Pitino felt that honor belonged to rising sophomore Simeon Wilcher and Ejiofor.
“It’s talented, it’s very talented,” Pitino said of his roster. “Any time you can’t tell who your best player out of seven, eight guys, that’s impressive. Every single day, I can’t tell you who the best player is, and that’s impressive.”
Luis (shins) and four-star incoming freshman Jaiden Glover (wrist) are working their way back from injuries.
The duo are able to do non-contact work, but haven’t been cleared yet to fully practice.
Pitino expects them to be ready by September.
Prey, an international import, has yet to arrive as the forward from Portugal works on obtaining a student visa.
That could happen in the coming weeks. Greek guard Lefteris Liotopoulos is playing with his country’s 19U national team in international competition and won’t arrive until September.
Daniss Jenkins, Chris Ledlum and Sean Conway, members of last year’s team, took part in Wednesday’s practice.