St. John’s welcomes new transfers, youth infusion to established veteran core

Joe Tartamella navigated transfer portal to NCAA Tournament last year, and blends newcomers with veterans once again as St. John’s looks to replicate last season’s success. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

NEW YORK — At just 44 years old, it’s easy to mistake Joe Tartamella for a head coaching neophyte, especially when the man behind the bench at St. John’s still looks younger to the casual observer.

But as he begins his 12th season at the helm, he has now spent almost his entire adult life on the corner of Union and Utopia, from serving as a graduate assistant in 2002 when Kim Barnes Arico took over a program with nonexistent success to succeeding her on the heels of a Sweet 16 appearance and carving out his own niche to become the winningest head coach in Red Storm women’s basketball history. And in a college basketball landscape where virtually everything that is not bolted down and secured is fluid to some extent, the value in a legacy now entering its third decade becomes easier to appreciate and harder to quantify.

“I take a lot of pride in being here for the time that I’ve been and the opportunity that I’ve been given,” Tartamella reflected Tuesday as St. John’s held its annual media day on campus. “When I started in 2002 as a GA, I probably never expected to be here for 21 years, but Kim gave me an incredible opportunity to come back after being a GA. So for me, it’s been a place that’s been incredibly special to me in terms of my development as a professional, as a person. I met my wife here, so my family has been with me every step of the way, which has been even more enjoyable. For a kid from New York, to be able to coach in your hometown, that’s not easy to find.”

Last season proved to be equally as symbolic for Tartamella, who was thought to be on the proverbial hot seat as the year began. But with the additions of Jayla Everett, Mimi Reid and Jillian Archer in the transfer portal to replace Leilani Correa, the new arrivals silenced skepticism of the Red Storm, winning a game in the NCAA Tournament and coming within an eyelash of a second-round appearance. For Tartamella, the navigation of the portal was a stark contrast from how he had routinely built his program, but he was able to strike the right notes in reconstructing his roster, and was rewarded with a contract extension this spring as a result.

“The portal is good and bad,” he conceded. “When you find the right players and you’re able to connect with those players, have them buy into what you know they can do and what we can do as a group, you see what you saw last year. We had players who were castoffs, we had players who were big parts of their team, and players who came home. For me, it was satisfying — as far as a coaching moment — as anything to see, to see them really do the things that we talked about when we were recruiting them. It was just a perfect match for everybody.”

Four transfers have come to Queens this season, with Amber Brown (Pitt) and Ber’Nyah Mayo (UMass) the two headlining newcomers. St. John’s also welcomes Phoenix Gedeon from Robert Morris and Tara Daye from conference rival DePaul, and Tartamella is hoping for a similar shot in the arm from this quartet as last year’s incoming transfers gave the program.

“I believe that’s a fair expectation. I also believe that they need to provide us with the same, maybe more of an impact in certain ways with their ability and their experience. AB, coming in, I think she’s just hungry like Jayla was, hungry to win.”

As for the returning players, Archer and Unique Drake are the veterans in a group that also includes sophomores Skye Owen and Jailah Donald, the latter of whom averaged over 20 points per game during the Red Storm’s August trip to Italy and Greece. Four freshmen also join the ranks this season, which makes St. John’s much younger on paper, but also tests Tartamella’s patience as he tries to piece the puzzle together.

“We’re certainly a work in progress,” he admitted. “However, the same things that we preach every year won’t change. We’re going to continue to build through, and play through, Jillian and Unique. I think there’s going to be a lot of guys who will come to the forefront that people maybe don’t know about or weren’t thinking about. We’ve got some nice pieces in there, but we’re youthful, so there’s some growing pains that are going to happen. I’m dealing with it every day as a coach, that inconsistency part.”

“That’s a major difference because we might have had three bad practices last year. Those guys came to work, did their stuff, and we went. I’m not saying we’re having bad practices, but when you look at the youth, the consistency of what we’re trying to accomplish on the floor, I’ve got to be a little more patient. The summer was great because I got to gauge where we had to be, so I’m excited about what the season holds for us and for them, and also to develop players again.”

St. John’s will have a strong non-conference slate once again, with high-major opponents such as Penn State visiting Carnesecca Arena while recent mid-major postseason teams the likes of Monmouth, Marist and Rhode Island appear on the ledger as well as a trip to Puerto Rico for the San Juan Shootout. With that said, Tartamella insists his style of play and ultimate vision remains the same, but the path in which his team travels to reach it may be long and winding at times.

“Expect what you always should expect, which is a team that’s going to be flying around the floor playing really hard,” he said. “We’re going to make mistakes, but I think our schedule is probably, in many ways, much more difficult than last year. That’s going to be interesting, but I think it’s going to prepare us for the league and what we need to be able to see when you look at teams like Penn State, Rhode Island, and then this Puerto Rico tournament where you’ve got VCU, UCF and Jackson State. The schedule is set to test us, I think, in a way early. Do I expect us to have the same success we had last year early? I don’t know, but I’m certainly interested to find out how we’re going to respond.”