22 months ago, RJ Lewis made the university decision.
UMass forwarding had an option. He visited Louisville and Texas A&M with St. John's.
Queen's School stood out for one reason.
“I want to be the best coach, and I want someone to hold me accountable,” Lewis told the post at the time. “[Rick Pitino] I'm going to help me develop my own game and become a more complete player. ”
So far, it worked out as well as Lewis had hoped for.
In his second season as Johnny, he grew into one of the nation's top wings, and on Wednesday he made St. John's history as the first Big East Player of the Year in 39 years. Walterbury was the last Johnny to win the award in 1986.
Lewis defeated the unanimous selection of All Big East first-teams from Clayton's Ryan Calbrenner, Marquette's Cam Jones and Villanova's Eric Dixon.
Pitino was also named Big East Coach of the Year after leading the sixth-ranked Red Storm since 1985 to their first full regular season title. It was surprisingly the first time for the Hall of Famer, winning 12 seasons as a Big East coach at Providence, St. John's, Louisville.
The award went on to have a big week for Johnny. On Sunday, Lewis and forward Zuby Ejiofor were selected for the All-Big East First Team. A day later, Ejiofor was named the most improved player in the meeting. A close friend is the latest Pitino development success story, ranging from a role player a year ago to a star this season.
“Coach Pitino does an incredible job of pushing us towards our limits,” Ejofor said. “The level of player development sessions, practices, and competitiveness is always there every day. We can only get better.”
From the time Lewis arrived in Queens, Pitino raved about his potential. Last season was difficult as a Miami native.
He suffered from a broken left hand during the preseason, and most of the season limited him. Lewis rarely practiced or participated in Pitino's famous skills development sessions. He had surgery to fix the problem.
“It was probably like a month of surgery. I couldn't walk alone, I couldn't get up,” Lewis told Steve Selby of the Post. “I felt helpless in a way, because I always needed someone to help me. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't sleep and had to like the dosage of the medication, so I could just fall asleep.
“My worst fear? I didn't think I would be athletic, like I thought I was going to lose myself [first] Steps. And I'm probably more athletic than last year. ”
He returned another player this winter – a more explosive, more disciplined, dynamic, two-way force.
Lewis finished fourth in the Big East regular season in scoring (18.1), sixth in rebound (7.1) and 10th in field goal percentage (44.6). Recently, he has significantly improved his 3-point shooting, reaching a clip of 36.7% since January 11th.
