Pitino circling top N.Y. recruits
Rick Pitino is hitting the ground running and already aiming high.
The new St. John’s coach visited Archbishop Stepinac in White Plains on Wednesday afternoon to get a look at five-star guard Boogie Fland and four-star guard Danny Carbuccia.
Fland is the sev- enth-ranked player in the 2024 class and No. 2 player in New York, according to the 247Sports recruiting composite. Pitino and assistant coach Steve Masiello watched practice and are looking to get in- volved with Fland, a junior who has numerous high-major suitors. Masiello spoke to Fland’s father, John on Wednesday morning.
“Just the fact that Rick Pitino after one day of having his press conference, to go out there and visit him, it just shows he really wants Boogie,” the elder Fland told The Post. “It shows his mindset. And Boogie is one of his priorities at the moment.”
Kentucky, Alabama, Seton Hall, Michigan, Kansas State and Virginia Tech are heavily involved with the dynamic guard from The Bronx, according to his father. Fland and Stepinac won the highly competitive Catholic League championship at, ironically, Carnesecca Arena, and will play in this weekend’s State Federation tournament in Albany.
“It was great to have Coach Pitino and his assistant, Coach Masiello, in the gym on their first day-anda-half on the job,” Stepinac coach Pat Massaraoni said. “The message to Boogie was he’s a big priority for them — him and other top guys in the tristate area are what they are going to be focused on.”
John Fland said his son is keeping his options open and hasn’t begun to narrow down his list of suitors. St. John’s has time to make an impression.
“Everyone knows who Pitino is and what he does,” John Fland said. “He produces pros. He’s a Hall of Famer. His résumé speaks for itself.”
Pitino will be busy in the coming weeks.
He said during his Tuesday press conference he is expecting to add six to eight new players to the roster, which means several Johnnies won’t be returning. The new coaching staff is still in the process of evaluating the holdovers and will begin meeting with those players at the end of the week. One of them, sophomore Rafael Pinzon, entered the transfer portal on Wednesday afternoon. Pinzon finished the season on an indefinite suspension. Meanwhile, freshman AJ Storr has been invited to return by Pitino, a source said, and the two sides will meet early next week. It’s not definite he will be back.
St. John’s has already expressed interest in Iona guard Walter Clayton Jr., the MAAC Player of the Year who entered the transfer portal on Tuesday, and skilled Harvard forward Chris Ledlum of Brooklyn. Pitino also extended an offer to top junior Carter Bryant, who is ranked fourth nationally by 247Sports and was down to Louisville and Arizona, and highly regarded four-star, top-50 junior Ahmad Nowell. Senior Garwey Dual, another top-100 prospect, decommitted from Providence after Ed Cooley left for Georgetown and is being targeted by the staff.
The mother of signed four-star recruit Brandon Gardner, Tameka Gordon, told The Post her son planned to remain committed to St. John’s until meeting with Pitino. Another recruit, junior college All-American Yaxel Lendeborg, made similar comments.
Standout center Joel Soriano, who like Fland went to Stepinac, attended the press conference Tuesday and said he was going to return. It was a major win for Pitino, who named Soriano captain.