Rick Pitino keeps momentum going as St. John's lands Brady Dunlap

March 2024 · 3 minute read

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Rick Pitino and St. John’s have real momentum now.

A day after landing Oregon State transfer Glenn Taylor Jr., the team’s likely starting small forward next season, the Johnnies received a verbal commitment from four-star high school wing Brady Dunlap on Tuesday morning.

The sharpshooting, 6-foot-7 Studio City, Calif., native picked St. John’s over Villanova, North Carolina, Penn State and Nebraska.

He was signed to play at Notre Dame before reopening his recruitment after coach Mike Brey announced he was leaving the ACC school.

“I’ve told Brady his whole life that the single most important ingredient in the recruiting process is the head coach,” Dunlap’s father, Jeff, told The Post in a phone interview. “Rick was great, especially over these last couple of weeks where we really ramped it up. The conversations they had and things that were shared, Brady felt the connection. The decision was made with Brady’s relationship with Pitino.”

The elder Dunlap — a longtime Division I assistant coach at, among others, N.C. State, Georgia, Cal State Fullerton, Loyola-Chicago and Western Michigan — said he and his son spoke to several people who had played for Pitino about their experience. They came away very impressed with how much those players raved about Pitino’s history of player development. They also told the younger Dunalp that Pitino would be the most challenging coach by a far margin he had ever played for. That didn’t scare him off.

“My kid, he’s a worker. He’s not intimidated by hours in the gym and time demand and work ethic. Brady wants to be the best version of Brady, and he believes Rick can help him achieve that and drive him to be that,” Jeff Dunlap said. “When we talked to other players, without question that was a prevailing theme that he will get the most out of you.”

St. John’s assistant Taliek Brown met with Dunlap out west shortly after Pitino was hired and Dunlap took an official visit to Queens last week.

Associate head coach Steve Masiello was his lead recruiter.

Dunlap helped Harvard-Westlake win the California Open Division state title, averaging 17 points and five rebounds per game.

“There’s definitely high-upside there, just because of the shooting and size alone,” Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy said. “He’s a floor-spacer. He creates matchup problems on the perimeter. You can’t leave him alone out there, and he can score a little bit in the lane, too. He’s a versatile scorer.”

Dunlap is a true wing but could develop into a stretch power forward if he adds muscle to his 180-pound frame, Cassidy said.

The addition of Dunlap leaves St. John’s with three remaining scholarships and clear needs to fill: a scoring guard, power forward and backup center.

The two top targets right now are five-star high school prospect Mackenzie Mgbako, a McDonald’s All-American who was signed to Duke but was recently let out of his National Letter of Intent, and Penn transfer Jordan Dingle, a Valley Stream, N.Y., native who was second in the nation in scoring last season.

Mgbako took an official visit to St. John’s last weekend and is visiting Kansas.

There is believed to be mutual interest between Dingle and the Johnnies.

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