Senior St. John’s point guard Daniss Jenkins, who transferred from Iona to follow coach Rick Pitino, takes a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What do you think when you see that Friday” Stayin’ Alive” New York Post back page with Coach Pitino dancing in his white suit?
A: When I see that, this was the plan all along. The way that we’re playing right now, we’re all just confident, and it’s really good to see that we’re all rising to the level, we’re rising to the occasion, we’re all playing really good. … This is all he used to talk to us about, since the beginning, around this time [to be] playing your best basketball. We let a lot go, we let a lot of games go, but we have never been playing like this.
Q: What do you like best about the way you’re playing right now?
A: We are a team. We’re all playing as one now. I’m ready to practice every day and ready to keep playing games. We’re not stopping now. We’re just getting started.
Q: What kind of impact can the Garden crowd make in the Big East Tournament?
A: Coach P. always tells us we’re probably gonna have a great crowd every game we play, but at the same time, you can’t get caught up in playing for the crowd. You just play. You play the right way, and then the crowd will get in to it. As long as we keep playing the right way, the fans will love it because it’s gonna result in a W for us.
Q: How dangerous can St. John’s be in the Big East Tournament?
A: We just showed that we can play with every team in the conference. We can beat any team in the conference, and we can definitely lose to any team in the conference. It’s never really been about the opponent we’re playing. Yes, you have to know their strengths and their weaknesses, and you got to respect the team that you’re playing, but at the same time, it’s on us to go out and execute the game plan that we have, and go be confident on offense and play together as a team, go get every rebound, all those little effort and hustle plays. That’s why we lost those games. Now it’s just on us if we get that chance again to go show how we’ve grown to make that play.
Q: What is it like when the Garden crowd is cheering for you?
A: That’s crazy. It’s nothing like that in the world. That’s the best arena to play in, in the world.
Q: What does it do for you?
A: It makes you want to play to the best of your ability. It makes you want to make every play, every shot, get a stop. … Whatever you’re doing on that court, it just makes you want to be the best at it.
Q: Thoughts on UConn?
A: I want to beat ’em. I want to beat ’em. I want to beat ’em. They are viewed as the best in college basketball. I’m a very competitive type of guy, and I know I’ve lost … three times now to ’em. So yeah, I want to beat ’em. I hope we get to play ’em again, I want to beat ’em.
Q: They knocked you out of March Madness last year at Iona.
A: That’s what I’m saying. I want to beat ’em.
Q: Marquette?
A: Oh, I definitely want to see them. I have to. I have to. I have to. I have to see them. [Tyler Kolek] made a comment about us after [an 86-75 St. John’s loss Feb. 10]. He said once we went man, we were barbecue chicken. He’s trying to say like we were food, like it was easy for him.
Q: Creighton?
A: They are all viewed as the best. So we want to play all of ’em. We just want to show that we can come out and compete.
Q: Seton Hall?
A: They probably are the toughest team in our conference. You put the ball in front of ’em, they’re gonna try to take it. You get a rebound, they’re gonna try to take it. They’re going to the hole, they’re gonna be strong. That’s why they win a lot of their games, they out-tough the other team.
Q: What would you hope the NCAA Selection Committee would consider about whether to invite St. John’s?
A: You watch the games that we lost at the end, and you watch how different we are now, I just hope they see that we’re a team that’s definitely a tournament team. I don’t think there‘a that many teams out there that’s better than us.
Q: How would you feel if this team was forced to consider playing in the NIT?
A: I’ll feel like we let each other down this season. That was not a part of the plan.
Q: Why would you guys run through a wall for Coach P.?
A: My personal take on that is because Coach P. shows you an unbelievable amount of love. I always tell people winning with Coach P. is like the best feeling in the world. He puts us through hard things for a reason, so winning could feel as special as it feels. He’s gonna challenge you every single day, and for me, that’s all I ever want. I like to be the best of the best. So to do that, you got to work hard every single day, and you got to be held to a very high standard. Just knowing that he does that every day out of love, you want to go hard for somebody like that. If that is your coach, you want to do anything you can to win.
Q: How hard is he on the team?
A: Coach P. expects (chuckle) a level of greatness out of every single player, no matter what type of player you are, no matter what level he’s at, he only knows great, that’s it. Say I get chipped on a screen or something like that, I kind of get through but then the dude gets a layup or something, we’re watching film: “Now, c’mon D.J. You gotta be better than that D.J. You gotta be tougher than that.”
Q: Has he ever been so harsh on a teammate that you felt bad for your teammate?
A: Nah, because I know that whenever he does something like that, it’s always out of love, and I try to tell the team that, “Don’t ever take anything he does personal.”
Q: Did you speak to your teammates after Coach P.’s public criticisms of the team?
A: Yes I did. … I said, “Coach didn’t mean it that way. Don’t try to take that narrative of Coach is trying to embarrass us. It’s not like that.” He just wants a response. Coach wanted us to respond, in a way that was gonna turn the season around for us. If you’re on the team, he knows you can play. He knows you’re good. So don’t think he thinks you’re bad at basketball, you’re not a good player. Coach P. does things for a reaction, and that’s a great job, because we responded in a type of way where you can’t lay down. You got to show some pride, because it’s like, honestly, you just want to prove him wrong. “All right Coach, we’re gonna prove you wrong.” So that was just kind of the mindset I wanted is to have as a team, not in a way of like our head coach is talking down to us, ’cause that’s not what he did.
Q: What did you think when he apologized the next day?
A: I never really paid too much attention to it, because I know what he meant by him saying that. I knew what he was trying to do.
Q: How about the rest of your teammates?
A: My job as a leader and as the point guard, I just tried to, like I said, change the narrative of it. I never wanted it to be a negative-type of narrative, because that’s not what Coach P. meant to do, and that’s not who he is.
Q: Did the team appreciate him apologizing?
A: I think they really did. Just because they haven’t been with him, they don’t have no prior history with him. And they didn’t really understand at the time.
Q: Did you tell your teammates, “Let’s prove him wrong?”
A: Yeah, “Let’s go out and show him that we can move fast laterally.” Because it’s just like a challenge. That’s basically all Coach P. did, he went out and challenged us.
Q: Is he a good joke teller?
A: Yeah he is. If you ask Coach: How many times does D.J. laugh at you on the daily in practice? He’ll tell you a lot. I think everything he does is funny. Like I take him very serious, but at the same time, I just watch him and I just laugh, because Coach P. is very intense at practice, whether he’s on me or getting on my teammates, I just think you can never take it too serious. It’s just basketball, he just wants the best out of you. The funniest thing for me, I got the tech, Georgetown. I was out of the game, and I’m watching the game, and Coach keeps walking up and down the sideline. He keeps looking at me. I’m not paying no attention. He was making eye contact with me because he wanted me to know that I needed to keep my head. So when I finally looked, I said, “Coach, you looking at me?” He got mad, he was, “D.J., you got to keep your head!” I was smiling but understanding how serious he was in knowing that I needed to keep my head. That’s the type of relationship that I have with Coach P.
Q: If you didn’t know how old he was, how old would you think he is?
A: I’ll give him like 50, 50-55, something like that.
Q: What are the traits of the ideal Rick Pitino basketball player?
A: No. 1 is confidence. 2 is you have to have no fear. You can’t have no fear when you’re playing for him. And then 3, you have to be a dog to play for Coach P., ’cause he doesn’t like you being soft on the court. You just go for it. Listen to what he’s saying. Listen to the little technical things he’s telling you, but then just go out and do it. Because on the court as a basketball player, somebody that’s confident, is nothing nobody can do with that.
Q: Would you like to see him wear the white suit again for the Big East Tournament?
A: He can wear that again! I like that. He was fly.
Q: How about the assistant coaches, too?
A: Nah, I like what the assistants had on, too. It was just a whole different type of vibe. Coach P. had the suit on, then the assistants had on their calm stuff. They had on the comfortable look and stuff. Coach P. looked comfortable in that suit too, so it was good.
Q: Would you ever wear a suit like that?
A: Yeah, I would.
Q: What was Coach P. like at Iona?
A: Coach P. coached tough at Iona. It was like we had the perfect team, I was just able to come in and just be me.
Q: Does Coach P. have any favorite sayings?
A: With this team, Coach has been saying the whole year, “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” That means if we don’t change those little things we’ve been doing wrong, the outcome will not change of those games.
Q: What drives you?
A: I’m a very competitive type of guy. I don’t do none of this to hope I can make money playing basketball or nothing like that, or I don’t do it just to but my mom a big house or get her a car. I go so hard because I know how far I’ve come, I know what God has done for me, and it’s like I would be letting myself and God down by not just going hard as I possibly can. That’s all I really do, when I’m on the court I just play with my heart. I like to think like, “Who better than me?” If they’re the best of the best, I want to see how I line up against them.
Q: Describe the doubters in your life.
A: Growing up, I was a small, thin, skinny guy. I didn’t start really working out until my junior year of high school. I was like a late bloomer. That stuff drives me too, the doubters and the naysayers. When you’re working out, that’s what you think about, that gives you that extra oomph that you need to go even harder. I don’t taunt nobody or nothing like that, even if they doubt me or say bad things about me. But at the same time, I’m like, “I’m gonna show you by the way that I play.”
Q: What is the biggest criticism that bothered you?
A: In high school they were just saying I was just a JUCO player, because I was little. I always had the skill, but I was little. I didn’t hit my growth spurt just yet. I wasn’t this fast, and I wasn’t this athletic. When I got the opportunity to go Division I and play for Damon Stoudamire at Pacific, I was just like, “Now what?” And then I just never looked back ever since.
Q: Even coming to St. John’s there were doubters?
A: Yeah. They thought I was just a mid-major player. They didn’t know that I was this. They thought I was just Pitino’s guy. I just couldn’t wait to get on the court.
Q: Biggest adversity or obstacle in life?
A: Just doing everything with no fear, and a lot of courage and confidence. That shapes a very, very, very good human. When you do things in life like that, it’s not a lot that can stop you. Even if you fail, you’re gonna keep trying because you had that confidence, you don’t have that fear of failure. And once you fail, you can only do better. You can only go up. … I just believe in myself.
Q: Do you believe you can be an NBA player?
A: Most definitely. I definitely think I could play at that level. When I get bigger, add a little more weight to myself, get a little stronger, I think I’ll be ready. And not even just because of my skill set or anything like that, I just know I like to compete. When somebody like that likes to compete and is a dog, there’s always a space for you in the NBA.
Q: What are your thoughts on Knicks star Jalen Brunson?
A: To me, he’s a guy that’s been proving the doubters wrong his whole life. Nobody thought he was gonna be that good in the NBA.
Q: What is your definition of leadership?
A: You can say it, right? You can be about the right stuff, but at the end of the day, you have to go out and show it. You got to go out and be an example of what you’re saying, and you have to live by what you’re saying. I tell my team, “The toughest team and the hardest-playing team is gonna win.” And then I try to go out and play as hard as I possibly can. And if just so happens that it’s my night to make shots, then I’m just making shots and playing hard.
Q: What intangible qualities do you pride yourself on?
A: My will to compete. It’s like once you see your leader doing that, it’s contagious. The rest of the team wants to do that. Whatever we need, that’s what I try to go do. And also just having that confidence, ’cause somebody needs to go show the team that you can play with that confidence and have no fear. Once you see one guy do it, everybody else wants to do it.
Q: What are your thoughts on NIL?
A: I never made any of my decisions based off NIL, or how much money you can make in college or anything like that. It’s really good that we can make money while playing in college and be taken care of. But at the same time, for me, I honestly said to myself, I’m like, “How do coaches recruit players now?” How could you want this amount of money, you haven’t done anything? That’s just me. I’m not against it, I’m all for it. But at the same time, I don’t want it to mess up why you come to college and play basketball: It’s to represent the university, to represent your family in a great way, and then the rest will take care of itself once you do that in a great way.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, CJ McCollum.
Q: Favorite athletes in other sports?
A: Vince Young.
Q: Did you play football?
A: I did, but then I stopped once I got to high school.
Q: What position did you play?
A: I played quarterback.
Q: You were called “Tink”?
A: (Laugh) If you go to Dallas, that’s what most people know me by. That started when I was a kid, from my sister. My mom was calling me Stink when I was a baby. My sister thought that’s what she was saying.
Q: Four dinner guests?
A: Barack Obama; my mom, she made me who I am today; Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Bad Boys 2.”
Q: Favorite actors?
A: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Zoey Saldana.
Q: Favorite singer/rapper/entertainer?
A: Rod Wave.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: I eat wings a lot, but when I’m at home, I like everything my mom makes … spaghetti.
Q: Life After basketball?
A:I’m gonna take the same passion and drive I had and put that to wherever life takes me.
Q: Describe the St. John’s fan base.
A: We lost to Seton Hall, they booed us. But you can’t get caught up in that. They just expect to win, because this is a great program and has very, very good history in winning, and they haven’t been winning in a long time, so they just expect to win. But they’re like no other. They’re great fans, when you’re winning, when you’re doing good, and when you play with your heart and give it your all, they’re great fans.
Q: What message would you give them about showing up in force at the Big East Tournament?
A: Just stay with us. We’re playing good at the right time. Just come out and just be loud. Be loud and be proud.
Q: What do you hope your St. John’s legacy will be?
A: I just want to look back and be able to say that we did something special. I just want to be special. I want to bring them back to winning. I want to be able to look back and say I was a part of that team that started St. John’s to get back on the right track of winning.