“Why me?”
That was Drissa Traore’s immediate reaction.
This was March 21, the day of Rick Pitino’s introductory press conference. The only player in attendance was Joel Soriano. The only other player Pitino publicly said he wanted to return was Traore, who was caught off guard initially.
“The fact he [wanted me to stay], that just made me feel good,” the junior forward recalled in an interview with The Post ahead of Sunday’s game against Boston College at Barclays Center.
Traore didn’t want to go anywhere, even if he had yet to play much at his hometown school and his role wasn’t necessarily going to expand significantly under Pitino. The Hall of Fame coach didn’t get glowing reports about many of the players on last year’s roster, aside from Soriano and Traore. But those two? People raved about their character, their dedication, their work habits.
“Everybody said unanimously, if he plays one minute or he plays 40 minutes, he’s going to be all in for St. John’s,” Pitino recalled.
Those reports have proven to be accurate. Pitino has repeatedly stressed the importance of building a culture at St. John’s, one of accountability, hard work and selflessness.
The 6-foot-8 Harlem native has been a bedrock of that, a kid who is always smiling, thanks team managers after road trips and is always the first player off the bench during timeouts to greet his teammates.
Even the past two years, when Traore rarely saw the floor, he was the same way.
“He’s had one bad day here. Everyone has bad days. He doesn’t even have those,” said assistant coach Van Macon, a holdover from the previous staff who personally recruited Traore to St. John’s. “He’s always the most enthusiastic, he’s always the nicest. He’s always, ‘Yes, sir. No, sir.’ Almost too good to be true, to be honest with you. … Every day he comes in and works his [butt] off. That’s just who he is.”
Traore said his positive outlook comes from his father, Ali Traore, who was an optimistic person by nature. In high school at local powerhouse Long Island Lutheran, coach John Buck always stressed the importance of culture and being a good teammate. Traore took that to heart. It became extremely important to him, because he saw what an impact he could have on others by offering simple words of encouragement in good times and bad.
“It’s just me, I guess,” Traore said. “When I see other people happy, it makes me happy.”
For the first time in his college career, Traore is playing regularly, part of Pitino’s rotation as Chris Ledlum’s backup, averaging 8.9 minutes, 2.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. He obviously could’ve gone elsewhere and played more, transferred down. But that didn’t interest him. Especially not when Pitino arrived and wanted him to stay.
“I am having so much fun,” he said. “You can tell, I’m growing as a basketball player.”
The coach is happy he did, even if Traore only has a minor role on the court. Pitino believes he’s made a major difference off of it just with his attitude.
“You need one, two or three of those types of people on a basketball team, and Drissa is the consummate culture person,” Pitino said. “It’s all about the team, whether he gets in or doesn’t get in, he’s going to be the best cheerleader on the bench.”
The coach added: “He’s a special young man and [we] needed guys like Drissa from a leadership standpoint to start the program.”
Boston College will be wearing its special edition “Red Bandanna” uniforms for the game, in honor of Welles Remy Crowther, the alum who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
He was an equities trader with Sandler O’Neill on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Crowther spearheaded a rescue effort from the Sky Lobby on the 78th floor and is credited with saving more than a dozen lives.
Survivors recalled being saved by “The Man in the Red Bandanna.”