Kansas and St. John's are two high-powered programs led by legendary basketball coaches. The Jayhawks have Bill Self, and the Red Storm has Rick Pitino. However, it does feel like, at times over the years, many players have left Kansas to head to St. John's.
The most recent player to do so was Zuby Ejiofor, who spent one season at Kansas before spending the next two years of his college career with Pitino. Ejiofor was a player Self wanted to keep around, but ended up feeling like he would have better opportunities with the Red Storm. He was even a part of the St. John's team that knocked Kansas out of the NCAA Tournament this season.
Now, another former Jayhawk has made his way to Pitino's squad, and many fans may not even remember the name. Former Kansas guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. has transferred to St. John's out of the portal. Cuffe spent one season with the Jayhawks back in the 2022-2023 season before transferring to Syracuse for two years and spent last season with the Mercer Bears.
St. John’s has signed Mercer guard transfer Kyle Cuffe, @chris_hummer and I have learned.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) May 18, 2026
Former top 110 overall recruit who played at Kansas and Syracuse before Mercer. pic.twitter.com/O5JegvSoq6
While Cuffe was at Kansas, he only played in two games, averaging three minutes, and was never able to score a basket. Due to the lack of playing time as a freshman, he was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, so he decided to find playing time elsewhere.
At Syracuse, Cuffe played in a total of 59 games, but was never a starter and came off the bench. IT wasn't until he transferred to Mercer. Cuffe started nearly half of the game he played for the Bears, but appeared in all 31 games of the season, averaging 7.3 points per game, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.4 assists.
There is a wonder as to how much Cuffe will be able to contribute to Pitino's squad, but the legendary coach brought him in and most likely has an idea of where to use him.
Cuffe is just the third player Pitino has brought in from the transfer portal after looking at some big names, but was unable to land them. Pitino seems to have struggled just about as much as Bill Self has in trying to bring in players.
Self has been able to bring in more players than Pitino with Leroy Blyden Jr., Keanu Dawes, Christian Reeves, and Dennis Parker Jr.; it may only be one more player, but it is still more.
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