After a phenomenal second season at St. John’s, Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino turned a struggling program into an NCAA Tournament team. Still, his roster has since been ravaged by the transfer portal, which leaves the team in limbo, looking for help at point guard.
Luckily, Pitino might have found a player in the transfer portal who can step up for the “Johnnies.”
Has Rick Pitino Found His Point Guard in UNC Transfer Ian Jackson?
In 2024, St. John’s roared back onto the national stage. A longtime Big East stalwart, SJU disappeared from relevance for several decades.
However, it took a New Yorker with the recruiting touch to revive the long-dormant Johnnies. St. John’s still needs a particular position despite a phenomenal transfer class.
CBS Sports reporter Jon Rothstein points out what he sees regarding the program’s transfers.
St. John’s will enter the 2025-26 season with the most talented roster in college basketball. pic.twitter.com/q2Pm73pOE4
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 1, 2025
“A transfer portal class that is unequivocally the best in college basketball,” Rothstein said. “Does that mean that St. John’s is going to be the best team in the sport next season? We don’t know that. We don’t know how Rick Pitino is going to mold the clay with this group. We will find out in the middle of the summer how this is progressing.”
“There’s a major point guard problems and concerns for St. John’s in terms of having an identifiable piece right out the gate,” he continued. “Rick Pitino has openly said that Ian Jackson, a potential lottery pick in 2026, is the main person at that position. If anybody can mold someone through summer of play development, it’s Rick Pitino.”
According to 24/7 Sports, St. John’s ranks first in the 2025 Transfer class with seven elite commits, consisting of three post players, three shooting guards, and a point guard.
Rothstein insists that former North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson will be the main focus. Back in April, 24/7 Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein described the incoming Red Storm player as incisitent but impressive.
“Jackson is a former five-star prospect who averaged 11.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists this year at North Carolina. The story of his season though was one of inconsistency… there were stretches where he looked like one of the best freshmen in America,” he continued.
“He attacks with extreme pace in the open floor, finishing second among all college freshmen in points in transition, and also looks to get downhill in the halfcourt.”
Point guards and Rick Pitino run hand-in-hand for all his 37 years on the bench. His first job was an interim head coach gig at Hawaii, where Reggie Carter led the Warriors, averaging 7.4 helpers per game in 1974.
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13 years later, a scrappy point guard named Billy Donovan took the Providence Friars on a Final Four run. Donovan didn’t enjoy a long NBA career. However, he found his way to coaching and ended up in the Hall of Fame. Additionally, Pitino’s style of play roots deep in New York basketball culture, where the point guard rule is unchecked and beyond question.
Rick Pitino assembled a potentially dominant team, but St. John’s will go as far as the point guard will take them. Rick Pitino builds programs and revives them. Now, St. John’s immediate future rests on whoever controls the point.
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