While it’s no secret that college basketball has changed drastically over the years, St. John’s Rick Pitino is drawing on some interesting experiences that are contributing to his success back in college hoops.
In a recent podcast episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take, Pitino compared the current landscape of college basketball to the Euroleague, where he spent multiple years coaching Panathinaikos.
“I like it because I spent 10 years in the pros, and to me, it’s almost a carbon copy of the Euroleague,” Pitino said. “The Euroleague, if you sign a player for two years, that’s a long time. So it’s really a one-year contract. You’re getting different players every year. And that’s the way it is with us.”
“Now, fortunately for us, we haven’t lost our freshmen yet,” Pitino continued. “Our freshmen have come back. So this year, we’re not even looking at a high school basketball player. We’re losing Aaron Scott, Kadary Richmond, and Deivon Smith, so we’re looking at three transfer guys. And I like it.”
The St. John’s coach brought up some interesting points, including thoughts like openly avoiding high school recruitment, the similarities of college ball to one-year deals in the Euroleague, and more. On top of all of it, though, were his thoughts on the motivation behind guys in the transfer portal and what it takes to be a star for a collegiate program.
Pitino revealed some of the behind-the-scenes work that comes with hand-picking a roster through the transfer portal, saying, “First of all, is it just about money? Is that why they’re staying in college? Or are they really into winning? Are they going to be part of that ‘I hate to lose’ attitude? So you’ve got to really study, and you’ve got to talk to their trainers, you’ve got to talk to assistant coaches that may have moved on. You’ve got to really do your homework and your research on this. We really do our homework on all of this.”
