By Andy Lipton
Special to Daly Dose Of Hoops
Joe Raposo, the first musical director of Sesame Street, who composed children’s classics like Sesame Street’s theme song “Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street” and “Be’in Green,” wrote a beautiful lamenting ballad about the once home of the New York Giants baseball team, the Polo Grounds, called “There Used to Be a Ballpark.” It was sung by Frank Sinatra on Sinatra’s 1973 comeback album, “ol’ blue eyes is back”.
If you know the way to St. John’s University and look out on it at Union Turnpike from 175th Street to Utopia Parkway, you will see a sizable student parking lot. Not many years from now, I can envision alums taking in that same view and saying that there used to be a parking lot there. There is a good chance it will not be a lament.
They will see a new athletic practice and training center, designed for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Today, many students are not thrilled about the loss of precious parking spots, and especially I imagine, because there is an existing practice facility, Taffner Field House, on campus. But tomorrow may be another story.
With the hiring of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino over two years ago, St. John’s men’s basketball team has quickly risen to national prominence. Funds have flowed into the basketball program, enabling St. John’s to compete for excellent players, pay Pitino, build the new athletic facility, and renovate Taffner.
The team had the best transfer class in the country for the 2025-26 season. St. John’s is in the process of trying to extend Pitino’s contract. For the 2025-26 season, all except one of the Johnnies’ Big East games will be played at Madison Square Garden.
For many private colleges and universities, declining enrollment has been an issue for a number of years for various reasons. And like many schools, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted St. John’s hard.
According to DataUSA, in 2019, the full-time enrollment was 14,354 students, and part-time enrollment was 7,364. In 2020, those numbers decreased to 12,926, and 7,217, respectively; and in 2023, those numbers were at 12,346 and 7,345, respectively. (DataUSA did not have these numbers for 2024 and 2025.)
For the total period from 2020 to 2023, the large decrease in full-time student enrollment must have resulted in a significant amount of lost revenue for St. John’s.
In 2019, the median undergraduate tuition at St. John’s was $41,378 a year. Over time, that median tuition increased. By 2023, that median tuition had risen to $48,301. I imagine the increase in tuition, needed to reduce the revenue loss from the decline in full-time student enrollment, is something the University is concerned about as that can negatively impact enrollment in the future.
The school closed its over 50-year-old Staten Island campus after the 2024 Spring semester.
The President of St. John’s, Father Brian Shanley, knows that a nationally-ranked basketball team with lots of national publicity can attract students to St. John’s. He and the donors are betting on Rick Pitino. Given Pitino’s career coaching record and his early success at St. John’s, it seems like a very good bet.
So don’t be surprised if one day, Pitino’s name and/or likeness is enshrined somewhere on campus.
So, you are probably asking, what does that have to do with Daniss Jenkins?
The rise in prominence started with Pitino being able to convince Jenkins to come to St. John’s, and Jenkins delivered. He led his team to a 20-game win 2023-24 season (20-13) and the cusp of an NCAA tournament bid that seemed unfairly denied given the competition in the Big East Conference. The team was prominently in the news, as they made a terrific run after Pitino publicly and sharply criticized the team. Yes, there were other very good players on that team, but in my opinion, without Jenkins, the team would not have had the success and prominence it earned.
Jenkins and his backcourt mate, Walter Clayton, Jr., played together for Pitino at Iona for the 2022-23 season. Pitino called them the best backcourt in the country, and that was not hyperbole. They led a very good Iona team to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships, and to the NCAA Tournament.
Clayton wound up going to the University of Florida and led his team to an NCAA Championship in 2025.
I saw Jenkins play at Iona a few times. You did not have to be a hoops savant to recognize his overall basketball skills and athleticism. A terrific player. And what also stood out was his unselfishness. A player who could offensively dominate a game, but did not try to, Jenkins mostly played the off-guard as Clayton was the point guard.
If you watched Jenkins and spoke to him, you could tell he could absorb the intense, exacting, demanding and relentless coaching of Pitino with aplomb. Call it calm with focus and intelligence. He’s all put together. Back in October 2023, when I asked Jenkins if Pitino was different at St. John’s than at Iona, with a laughing smile, Jenkins said, “he’s still tough.” And Pitino truly loved Jenkins.
I have to believe that Jenkins, having played for Pitino at Iona, was able in a big way to help his teammates, most of whom were new to the team, understand Pitino and buy into his coaching style.
I spoke with Jenkins before the 2023-24 season started, at St. John’s media day in October 2023. I talked to him about his unselfishness, the team, and playing the point.
On building a culture at St. John’s:
“We’re just trying to build a culture here. That’s the biggest difference (from Iona). At Iona, Coach was there three years prior to me joining the team and they had returners coming, so they all knew the culture. They knew what he expected. They knew the expectations. Here, it’s guys just trying to learn Coach P. And I’m just here to help. Help them learn what he wants, and for me, to keep getting better.”
On his unselfish play:
“Like I tell everybody all the time, I’m the guy, I have a brand-new shirt on, I’ll take it off and give it to somebody who needs it because I just love seeing other people shine. I know what I can do. I know I can make me happy. That doesn’t excite me. What excites me is seeing other people happy.”
On the team’s progress:
“We’re trying to figure each other out. Like Coach said, we’re just trying to figure out how competitive we are on the court. Trying to go to war together before the season, if that makes sense. Just try to go through tough things at practice, just see if we can handle adversity together. Won’t pay off until like January, February (emphasis added), things like that, maybe even December. That’s when it will (inaudible) start paying off.”
On playing the point guard position:
“I don’t really think about it, playing the point. I just go and try to put people in a position to make them successful. No matter if I’m at the point, if I was at the 4, the 5, anything like that. So it’s just about trying to get the best shot we can get.”
As the season started, the Johnnies were 7-3 in non-conference play. Fans had their hopes up. They won their first Big East game, which was against Xavier, and then lost a close game, 69-65, to the defending NCAA Champion, UConn, who by the end of the season would repeat as NCAA Champion and would be the Big East regular season and tournament champions. They then beat Hofstra in a non-conference game.
After the Hofstra game, they beat Butler at Carnesecca Arena. Playing for Butler was New York City native Posh Alexander, who had played for St. John’s the previous three seasons and was a fan favorite. Alexander got a nice warm reception when introduced as part of the starting lineup. But after the game, you got a window into the graciousness of Daniss Jenkins that colored his desire to win.
“At the end of the day, all I care about is winning,” said Jenkins, playing down the one-on-one matchup. “I was glad they gave him (Alexander) an ovation. He did a lot for this program, put in a lot of hard work. But I just wanted to get the win. That’s all that mattered to me, coming out with a big win.”
And remember, Jenkins and Alexander had not played together at St. John’s.
After that game, Pitino said, “He’s (Jenkins) a helluva basketball player. I’m going to miss the s–t out of him when he leaves.”
As the season progressed, it was apparent that the team was looking for Jenkins to be an important scorer while playing the point. Over the next 12 games, all against Big East opponents, the Johnnies went 4-8.
The next game after that 12th game was against Seton Hall, on February 18, 2024, a game in which St. John’s blew a 19-point lead. Pitino let loose on his team in the postgame press conference. It was a national story.
Pitino criticized the lack of toughness of his team, the slowness of some of his players in moving laterally, the non-athletic players resulting in much fouling when defending, the failure of him and his staff to recruit the type of players that fit his style of play, and the inadequate campus athletic facilities. He talked about the team as a whole and also negatively critiqued individual players.
“‘I’m not going to lie to you, this is the most unenjoyable experience of my life,’” the Hall of Fame coach said after the Johnnies lost for the eighth time in 10 games to all but kiss goodbye any shot at an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
But Pitino had a somewhat saving grace for the team he and his staff put together. “It’s a good group,” he said. “They try hard, they’re just not very tough.”
The team responded to Pitino’s outburst. They won the remaining five games of the regular season, including a decisive win against 15th-ranked Creighton, 80-66. St. John’s showed it was a prideful and a talented team. Jenkins had a season-high 27 points in that game.
Pitino viewed each of these games as one-game playoff games, as the Johnnies were fighting for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He knew a loss in any of them would doom any chance of playing in March Madness. You could tell he was proud of how his team responded to the pressure.
And, as Jenkins said back in October, it might take until February for the work to pay off.
In the Big East tournament, the team easily defeated Seton Hall in the quarterfinals, a team that was also denied an invite to the NCAA Tournament and wound up winning the NIT Championship.
After that win, I was able to speak with Jenkins.
On why it took past the middle of February for the team play consistently well:
“You can’t speed up trust. Can’t speed up greatness. I mean, it’s just how hard we want to come together to play for each other. And you can’t put a time limit on that. You just don’t know when that’s gonna come.”
On Coach Pitino’s sharp public criticism of the team almost four weeks earlier:
“Coach challenged us the entire year. I’ve been saying that ever since Coach came out and said that to the media. It’s just a challenge. Like a challenge. It was either to see if the light is on or if that light is off. We turned the light on. That’s just it.”
On having to score and play the point:
“The offense is geared for me to be aggressive. If it’s my shot, I will shoot it. I have no problem with shooting it. But I love to pass.”
In the next game in the semifinals against the eventual Big East and NCAA champion UConn Huskies, the Johnnies went down fighting, losing 95-90. Jenkins led his team with 27 points, tying his season high, and had five assists against the best team in the country.
Let me give you the obligatory stats: For the season, Jenkins played and started in every game, scored 15 points a game on 45 percent shooting from the field and 85 percent shooting from the foul line, had six assists per game, and led the team with 52 steals.
But the measure of this young man, is much more than stats. A great teammate who started the Johnnies on the path back to prominence despite the team not making the NCAA Tournament. The team was invited to play in the NIT, but declined.
In the following 2024-25 season, St. John’s won the Big East regular season and tournament championships, losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With a 31-5 record, they ended the season ranked 10th in the nation by the USA Today Coaches Poll and 11th in the nation by the Associated Press.
Although Jenkins was now in the G League on a two way-contract with the Motor City Cruise (the Detroit Pistons’ affiliate), his influence on his teammates carried over to the Johnnies’ 2024-25 season.
After the Johnnies’ quarterfinal win in the 2025 Big East tournament against Butler, in the locker room I asked RJ Luis, Jr. and Simeon Wilcher, teammates of Jenkins the year before, how, if at all, did the previous season prepare them for the 2024-25 season? I did not mention Jenkins or any other players in the question.
Here is part of their responses:
R.J. Luis, Jr. (who was named the Big East Player of the Year the day before):
“Last year, I think was the turning point for St. John’s as to the type of culture we want to build. You know what Coach Pitino brings out in his players. I think the first year was great. Shoutout to Daniss Jenkins, Joel Soriano, Jordan Dingle, Nahiem Alleyne. Those four seniors were pivotal to the transition we are trying to build here. As you can see, we’re carrying it on to the second year and playing a lot more aggressively on the defensive end.”
Simeon Wilcher:
With the 2025-26 season just starting, and St. John’s having the best transfer class in the country, the team was ranked fifth in the AP’s preseason poll, its highest preseason ranking in program history. They are firmly in the national conversation.
And although the Johnnies have dropped to No. 23 in the AP Poll as of December 1 after seven games and a 4-3 record, the transfers are very talented players. There are 11 new players on the team. It will take them time for the team to jell. But do not bet against Coach Rick Pitino.
Daniss Jenkins was able to play in seven games for the Detroit Pistons in the 2024-25 season. He played most of the season with the G League's Motor City Cruise, where he averaged 21 points per game and 7 assists per game in 32 games. He was on the G League's All-Rookie Team.
I saw him play for the Cruise against the Westchester Knicks last season. He was at point guard.
At one point, Jenkins was streaking down the left side of the court on a fast break and Ron Harper, Jr. threw him a lob pass above and to the left side of the rim. Jenkins skyed up, caught the ball with both hands as he was going up, and while in the air, came down and dunked it with his right hand.
There was one other moment I noticed that struck me. After a timeout, watching Jenkins get off the bench moving to nearly half-court, enthusiastically reaching out with encouragement and support to his teammates coming off the floor.
This season, again on a two-way contract with the Pistons, Jenkins has made an impact with the Pistons. As of December 5, he’s played in 17 of the Pistons’ 22 games and started in six. He is averaging 8.9 points, 3.8 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Jenkins was not the only talented player in his 2023-24 season with St. John’s. Many very good players contributed to that team, which won 20 games. But I believe Jenkins was the most important player on that team that started St. John’s on a path to national prominence.
One day years from now, if Coach Rick Pitino is honored by St. John’s, it will mean that Coach Pitino’s tenure will have been a big success. The spark for that success will have been Daniss Jenkins.
There have been many, many terrific basketball players at St. John’s through its long, storied, and proud basketball history (and many who have played in the NBA). Daniss Jenkins deserves to be remembered as one of those terrific players, despite playing just one season for them.
If the day comes when Coach Pitino is honored by St. John’s, I hope they honor Daniss Jenkins along with him. My song recommendation for that day is another Sinatra song on his 1973 comeback album that starts off, “Here’s to the winners, lift up the glasses.” The song is “Winners,” composed by Joe Raposo.
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