Rick Pitino recently sat down and watched three of Cadderly Richmond's best games last year at Seton Hall.
There was one thing the St. John's coach noticed between this year and last at Richmond.
“The only big difference I witnessed was that the ball was in his hands more at Seton Hall. I think he's gained about 8 to 10 pounds, which he needs to lose. Yes,” Pitino said Friday. “He's not as fast as he was back then. I talked about it with him last night, you'll see that when you study. … He needs to be at 205, not 212, 214, and that's what makes him so fatigued. I think it will help his quickness.”
Asked if he could do that during the season, Pitino joked, “Just lose a pound or two a week, like most people do.”
The 6-foot-6 Richmond is averaging 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists, all of which are down from a year ago.
Obviously, this is a different style and he's playing alongside Davon Smith, another ball-dominant guard.
In fact, Richmond had the best field goal percentage of his college career, shooting 46.8 percent from the field but making just 9.9 shot attempts.
“Defensively, he plays with Davon, who wants the ball,” Pitino said. “At Seton Hall, he had the ball 80 percent of the time.”
Most, if not all, Big East coaches this weekend will wear sweaters in honor of late St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca, John Puckett, the conference's communications director, told the Post. Ta.
Carnesecca would have turned 100 years old on Sunday.
Check out the latest Big East standings and St. Louis. John's statistics
They also wear Carnesecca pins.
“We thought about doing this around the time of the funeral, but we didn't think it was the right time,” Paquette said. “We thought it was a good opportunity to recognize what he's all about St. John's, the Big East and New York college basketball. We think it's going to be kind of cool.”
Injured winger Brady Dunlap returned to the team after spending the holidays at home in California.
He is on track to return from left hand surgery in late January or early February.
