"I think it's hard to be a prognosticator when you have eight new players, four new starters, and you just look at it and say, okay, this team's going to be top anything. Because it does take a lot of time. I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about: Florida right now, I think is one of the best teams in the nation. And their backcourt needed time to gel with the frontcourt."
"This year's team has taken much longer than the first two, primarily because I was taking longer to try and figure these guys out. But once we figured it out, I think they performed quite well."
"Zuby embodies everything I believe in. He came in, he was really a non-scorer, didn't have great hands, really wasn't a passer. He played very little at Kansas, obviously, because he was only a freshman. So he just worked so hard at player development, getting better and now he leads the team. He's one of the top defensive players, leads the team in assists, rebounding, block shots and points."
Rick Pitino discusses the challenges of building a competitive team with eight new players and four new starters, emphasizing that success cannot be predicted immediately. He references Florida as an example of a top team whose backcourt and frontcourt needed time to develop chemistry. At St. John's, Pitino ranks this year's team as his third-best in three years, noting it took longer to figure out the roster than his first two years. However, once the team understood their roles, performance improved significantly. Pitino highlights senior Zuby Ejiofor as embodying his coaching philosophy, transforming from a non-scorer with limited playing time at Kansas into a team leader excelling in defense, assists, rebounding, and scoring.
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