St. John’s fans are going to be seeing many new faces on the men’s basketball team next season. Andrés Pinzón is one of the team’s most highly touted recruits for next season. Pinzón is originally from Puerto Rico, but has most recently played his High School Basketball at LUHI. He agreed to join me for an interview via zoom where we discussed his High School/FIBA basketball experiences, why he chose St. John’s, what fans can expect from him, and some of his off the court interests.
Excuse my lack of video editing experience.
High School Career
LUHI is a national basketball powerhouse year in and year out. Of course, most fans tend to focus on the incredible highlights from LUHI games against schools like Sierra Canyon and the Patrick School. However, aside from the games, Pinzón explained how “every day in practice was a lot of competition”. He says that the competition he saw in practice against guys like Andre Curbelo, Zed Key, and Jalen Celestine prepared him well to succeed at the next level. He still keeps in touch with those guys, specifically Andre Curbelo (Illinois University Point Guard) as they both have connections with the Puerto Rico National team.
Playing on the Puerto Rico national team and his experiences in FIBA is certainly things that make Pinzón unique in comparison to other St. John’s recruits. He absolutely stuffed the stat sheet throughout the U17 FIBA tournament in 2019; his best outing was against the Dominican Republic when he scored 28 points. He spoke about his FIBA experience, saying that “the game is slower so you have to read a lot of defenses so it helped me when I play in the United States because the game is way faster”. This sort of experience with reading defense is so valuable to a young college player, especially in the Big East.
A Look Into The Future
Why did Andrés Pinzón want to come to St. John’s? Well the answer is really quite simple. He wanted to stay in New York. When I asked him why St. John’s over schools such as Florida or New Mexico, he said that he “didn’t want to move to another state”. He went on to acknowledge Assistant Coach Van Macon as a crucial piece in his recruiting process. He and Coach Van Macon made a connection that played a role in getting Pinzón to commit to St. John’s.
When I asked Andrés what the best thing he brings to a basketball team is he told me that it was the ability to make others better. He says, “I can create for me, for my teammates…I like to share the ball and keep everybody involved”.
Life Outside of Basketball
To complete the interview we talked about some of the things he likes to do when he’s not playing basketball.
Hobbies: Going to the studio to hangout with his friends who rap (Andrés does not rap himself)
Favorite Rap Artist: Anuel & Bad Bunny
Dream Job that’s not playing basketball: Astronaut
Barstool St. John's 