How St. John’s became one of college basketball’s biggest transfer destinations

Dillon Mitchell had been through recruiting visits several times over, first as a five-star high school recruit and later as a two-time transfer.

But this was different.

During his meeting with Rick Pitino, the Hall of Fame coach took a unique approach.

“Usually when you go on a visit, they talk about, ‘Oh, you’re great at this, you’re going to fit in our system because you’re great at this, this, this,’ ” Mitchell recalled. “We sat and talked about weaknesses, what they can help me get better at. To me, that was the biggest thing,”