Rick Pitino’s vision for freshman Simeon Wilcher remains the same despite his lack of playing time.
The freshman guard will continue to play a pivotal role in St. John’s coaches’ plans.
“He is a very talented young man and the future of our program,” Pitino told the Post in an exclusive interview Tuesday. “Sim is fully committed to St. John’s and I am fully committed to Sim.”
The 6-foot-4 Wilcher, a top-40 four-star recruit out of Roselle Catholic (N.J.), hasn’t made the impact many expected. He started 22 games, averaging 2.4 points and 1.1 assists in 9.4 minutes. Wilcher did not play in Sunday’s game against Seton Hall or in the second half of the previous game against Providence.
Pitino chose not to use Wiltcher off the ball like he did at the beginning of the season because he believes it would be too much for him to learn multiple positions at the same time.
But the Hall of Fame coach has seen his progress in practice and plans to have him play behind starting point guard Danis Jenkins on Wednesday against Georgetown.
“The only reason he hasn’t played more is he’s learning behind a great point guard, and I think that bodes very well for him going up against Danis Jenkins every day,” Pitino said. Ta. “He could have gone to another program and averaged 10, 12 points a game and not learned as much. I think this is a great learning experience. [Jenkins] every day. That’s what makes him good. He’s a great guy, he’s our future, and I’m extremely bullish on him. …I think the Sims have gotten a lot better. ”
St. John’s roster will look a lot different next year. Four of the five starters – Joel Soriano, Chris Ledlum, Jenkins and Jordan Dingle – are ineligible, as is top reserve guard Nahiem Alleyne.
Wilcher is one of the players St. John’s plans to focus on, along with fellow freshman Brady Dunlap and sophomores RJ Lewis Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor.
“He’s grown emotionally, he’s grown defensively, and he’s very similar to him.” [Jenkins]” Pitino said of Wilcher. “The first year I got my first DJ. [at Iona], you couldn’t say he was a point guard. He also had a lot to learn about running the pick-and-roll and a lot to learn about defending the pick-and-roll. And in one year, he learned all that. And the same goes for Sims.
“Just like DJ, he’s a combo player who has to learn how to set up others to run the team, and he’s learning all of that this year.”
