Brady Dunlap started 2024 with career-best showing against Butler, furthering momentum for St. John’s as Red Storm prepares to face Villanova on Saturday. (Photo by Vincent Dusovic/St. John’s Athletics)
When Steve Masiello quarterbacked the recruitment of Brady Dunlap to St. John’s this spring, he and Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino envisioned a shooter who could not only score in bunches when called upon, but also stretch the floor with his 6-foot-7 frame on the wing.
The California native and son of a coach committed to St. John’s in early May after an official visit that saw Dunlap thrive in one of Pitino’s patented workouts and player development sessions. And although the Hall of Fame coach is known for bringing his freshmen along gradually, the prospect of waiting his turn did not scare his young pupil off. Rather, Dunlap recalled, it reaffirmed a commitment to simply going about his business and staying sharp for when his moment did come.
“When I committed here, I kind of knew what it was with a lot of older guys, and I’m trying to learn under them,” Dunlap said after St. John’s defeated Butler in its 2024 opener Tuesday. “Obviously with Coach Pitino and his pedigree, how he develops players throughout the years, I wasn’t coming into this program expecting lots of minutes. I just want to get as good as I can throughout the year, but at the same time, always stay ready if he does call my name. I’m never gonna be on the bench and not prepare to go in the game.”
Dunlap had scored a grand total of 18 points in his first eight collegiate games entering Tuesday’s matchup with Thad Matta’s Bulldogs, but turned heads with a 13-point outing that suggested yet another star had been born in New York. Pitino later revealed he had considered giving the rookie his first career start Tuesday, but decided to bring him in first off the bench after Chris Ledlum demonstrated a readiness to go despite nursing a sprained ankle suffered two weeks ago in a loss to reigning national champion UConn.
“He practiced well, both in player development sessions and in practice,” Pitino opined. “We weren’t getting rebounds from the one, two and three spots, and Brady, although he may be physically weak, he gets in there and he’s not afraid of contact. So I wanted to play him.”
“I’ve got the utmost confidence in him. I’m not afraid to put him in at any point in time. He works his butt off and you can see it. He’s a hell of a player, I said it from the moment we got him. He’s gonna develop into a great player someday. I’m not gonna tell you he’s gonna be Chris Mullin, but he’s gonna be a great scorer at St. John’s with the likes of Chris Mullin. He’s only a freshman, but he’s going to be a great one.”
Dunlap, along with fellow freshman Simeon Wilcher, has the luxury of learning from more experienced players in front of them such as Daniss Jenkins, Jordan Dingle, Ledlum, RJ Luis and Joel Soriano, presences that might cause ordinary teenagers to feel handcuffed in a sense. But for Dunlap, the ability to live a dream being cultivated by a living legend while also forming a bond with each of his teammates, outweighs any negatives of not being able to make a greater impact on the floor in the short term.
“My teammates,” he said when asked about the inspirations behind his confidence. “I have a great relationship with Sim and every day when we go back to the dorm, whether we play or not, it’s always just super positive. We always just uplift each other, and we’re just keeping each other up and that’s why we keep the confidence. My dad has been a college coach his whole life, so I’ve grown up watching his players go through their processes, and it’s been a dream of mine since I was shooting on the mini hoop to go out and play college basketball at the highest level.”
“Brady’s like me,” Jenkins added. “We’re skinny, but we’re tough. And that’s what I love about him. He played hard, that’s what me and Coach always talk about (with) Brady, and that’s why he’s been getting more minutes. I think Brady came in very confident, and at practice, that’s how he played. That’s what he looks like, and we encourage him to shoot whenever he’s open.”
Pitino drove that point home, highlighting his willingness to improve and being unafraid to bang with bigger bodies despite a slender frame.
“I never worry about his confidence,” the coach reiterated. “He thinks he’s Jerry West when he goes out there, so his confidence is not lacking. And you know what he does? He sticks his nose in there defensively and he works his tail off. Like I keep telling Brady all the time, he’s worried about gaining weight and eating, I tell him, ‘Brady, don’t worry about that! (Kevin) Durant’s not worried about it, the kid from the Thunder, the 7’1 kid (Chet Holmgren) isn’t worried about it. You’re a hell of a player, don’t worry about the weight issue.’”
“I think TikTok dancing has a lot to do with it, too,” Pitino subsequently quipped, taking notice of Dunlap’s tendency to go viral with his videos on the social media app.
As St. John’s enters its latest challenge, a trip to Villanova on Saturday, the Red Storm does so with a handful of burgeoning players eager to continue a recent surge that has produced a 2-1 start to Big East play through a gauntlet of a league schedule over the first half of the conference slate. St. John’s has also not won on Villanova’s campus since 1993, a streak Soriano and Jenkins could very well snap if their recent form is any indication.
“I think Joel can get so much better than he’s playing. When you look at his numbers around the basket, he’s probably number one in the country, but he’s still nowhere near his potential and that’s a great thing. I think DJ is near it. He’s a very good shooter, he’s not showing it necessarily, but he’s a very good shooter. I’m with him for two years, and he just kills the drills.”
“Daniss is the glue of the basketball team. You don’t see a lot of the things that he does, but he’s a hell of a basketball player and I’ve always said it. I had the best backcourt in the nation last year, I thought. Obviously you’re at Iona and people aren’t going to recognize that, but Walter Clayton and DJ were fantastic. (Jenkins) is a hell of a basketball player. We’re going to miss the s*** out of him when he leaves.”
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