Preseason College Basketball Rankings: #22 St. John’s Red Storm

St. John’s Red Storm lost more during the offseason than almost every other school. Only two of the 15 players who stepped on the court for the Red Storm last year remain on the roster. Luckily, one of them is Joel Soriano, who was their best player a year ago. The rest of the roster was built mostly with the transfer portal. But all the buzz around the program comes down to one thing: Rick Pitino’s return to the Big East.

Check out the previous team here.

Preseason College Basketball Rankings: #22 St. John’s Red Storm

Pitino has returned to the Big East. After three very successful seasons at Iona, he made the relatively short (depending on traffic) drive from New Rochelle down to Queens. The Hall of Famer will look to bring the Red Storm back to prominence and to be at the top of the Big East once again.

Soriano is the only familiar face within the entire program. Other than him, it’s an all-new roster and an all-new coaching staff. Luckily, Soriano is the guy you want to have around. He took a massive leap last season, and it won him the Big East’s Most Improved Player award. The super senior is now one of the best big men in the Big East.

Pitino’s first big move on the recruiting trail was flipping a top 50 recruit. Simeon Wilcher was a longtime UNC commit until he changed his mind in June. By the end of the month, he had turned to St. John’s. He will have a chance to carve out a role from the start, but he will have to earn it.

Nine players transferred into the program. Three of them Pitino brought with him from Iona. Guard Daniss Jenkins was arguably the Gaels’ best player last year. He had two good years at Pacific, but playing for Pitino and the Gaels took him to new heights. He averaged career highs across the board. Cruz Davis and Sadiku Ibine Ayo were both true freshmen last season. Davis did start a few games and was a member of the MAAC All-Freshman team.

Let’s run down the rest of the transfers. Zuby Ejiofor was a four-star recruit coming out of high school; however, he didn’t play much as a true freshman last year at Kansas. But at six-foot-nine and 237 pounds, he is still a physical force, even if he doesn’t have a big role right away. RJ Luis is a tall, lanky guard who made the A-10 All-Freshman team at UMass. He moved primarily into a starting role late in the season and flourished. Glenn Taylor Jr. was a member of the PAC-12 All-Freshman team two years ago at Oregon State and then got even better last year as a sophomore for the Beavers.

Harvard transfer Chris Ledlum had initially planned on transferring to Tennessee, but then he changed his mind and decided to stay in the Northeast. His 8.5 rebounds per game led the Ivy League, and his 18.8 points per game was second. The only player in the conference who scored more than him was his new teammate, Jordan Dingle. Dingle scored 23.4 PPG while playing for Penn last season and won Ivy League MVP. It was the second straight year he averaged more than 20 PPG. Last but certainly not least, we have Nahiem Alleyne. After three solid years at Virginia Tech, he transferred to UConn. He didn’t have as big a role as some may have thought that he would have, but he played well in the position that he had. And, of course, he won a national championship with the Huskies.

Projected Lineup

PF/C – Joel Soriano (15.2 PPG, 11.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.3 SPG, 1.4 BPG)

F – Chris Ledlum (18.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.1 BPG at Harvard)

SF – Glenn Taylor Jr. (11.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.2 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG at Oregon State)

SG – Jordan Dingle (23.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG at Penn)

PG – Daniss Jenkins (15.6 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.6 BPG at Iona)