NCAA Basketball: 8 programs with rough starts to 2023 offseason

7. St. John’s Red Storm

One of the biggest storylines from the past several months in NCAA Basketball was where will head coach Rick Pitino ultimately end up. St. John’s won that battle and instantly become one of the top winners this offseason.

But after the original hype that came with it from the media, what didn’t come was the players. There were three key pieces on Iona’s roster this past season that all entered the transfer portal. Yet only one of them went with Coach Pitino, as Walter Clayton (Florida) and Nelly Junior Joseph (New Mexico) went elsewhere.

The one player who did pick the Red Storm was Daniss Jenkins. However, unless he finds a way to graduate this offseason, he very well won’t be eligible to play next year. And probably the most surprising thing is that players haven’t been rushing to join Coach Pitino from the portal. They did land UConn guard Nahiem Alleyne and VMI transfer Sean Conway but it’s still a fairly empty roster outside of the lone key returning player, Joel Soriano.

There’s still plenty of time for Pitino and St. John’s to build a roster good enough to compete in the Big East. But I’d be lying if I thought I wouldn’t be already thinking that. Right now, they aren’t better roster-wise from a year ago, even with an upgrade on the sidelines.