SAN DIEGO — All Zuby Ejiofor wanted was a chance to play and develop into the player he knew he could be, and all Rick Pitino wanted was a player he knew he could develop into a cornerstone of the program he knew he could — and would — build at St. John’s.
It has turned out to be a marriage made in heaven, the single biggest reason why Pitino and Ejiofor will get the chance to make history together and prolong their honeymoon with St. John’s first Sweet 16 since 1999.
And as fate would have it, standing in Ejiofor’s way in this Sweet 16-or-Bust showdown Sunday night is his former coach, Bill Self, and his former school, Kansas, and a loud, overwhelming army of Jayhawks fans who might feel that he left them at the altar and let him hear about it.
Once Self committed to 7-foot-1 Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson, Zuby ultimately knew that he couldn’t afford to stay, and once he met Pitino, he knew he couldn’t afford to leave.
