Rick Pitino Holding Nothing Back in St. John's Offseason after Swiping Donnie Freeman from Mark Pope, Kentucky

The former head coach of the Wildcats is not playing favorites in the transfer portal

Oct 11, 2024; Lexington, KY, USA; Former Kentucky Wildcats head coach and current St. John's head coach Rick Pitino is introduced during Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

There are no friends in the transfer portal. It’s cutthroat. It’s a battle. And no one knows that better than Rick Pitino.

The Hall of Famer doesn’t care if you are his friend or his former captain of a National Championship team. He will do whatever it takes to make his team – St. John’s – better and this time it came at the expense of Mark Pope and Kentucky.

Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman announced his commitment to the Red Storm on Monday night, spurning Kentucky and Pope. It was not until late Sunday afternoon that steam started to pick up between Freeman and the Johnnies.

In fact, he committed to St. John’s without taking a visit to Queens.

Prior to his contact with Pitino and his coaching staff, Freeman visited Kentucky and canceled a trip to UConn. All signs pointed to him joining the Wildcats and being a featured player in a very important offseason in Lexington.  

Kentucky has only added Washington’s Zoom Diallo and Furman’s Alex Wilkins in the transfer portal while missing on a number of players it was thought to be in good position for.

St. John’s has landed a number of international players this offseason, but Donnie Freeman was its first addition from the portal.

Freeman has battled injuries in his two seasons with the Orange but has tremendous potential at 6-foot-9 and averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in 23 games this season, shooting 47.4-percent from the floor and 30.2-percent from 3-point range.

Patience is growing thin for Mark Pope among Big Blue Nation after an injury riddled, disappointing season for Kentucky and losing one of the better players to enter the transfer portal to a former Wildcat head coach is not sitting well in Lexington.

There are still several elite players available but Kentucky is losing its luster with the elite programs in college basketball.