Big East Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2023-24 season
By John Makuch
6. St. Johns Red Storm
In getting Rick Pitino, St. John’s gets experience that only one other Big East squad can now tout, and that is a National Championship-winning head coach.
After another disappointing season under Mike Anderson, this team is looking to sail to new heights with their huge splash of a hire, but time will tell how well this works out.
They lost transfers Dylan Addae-Wusu to Seton Hall, and Posh Alexander to Butler, but they have brought in some impact players from Iona, and Nahiem Alleyne who could make an impact coming in from UConn.
A huge moment for Pitino in his beginning here at St. John’s was being able to keep big man Joel Soriano. This conference has a ton of great guys down low in the frontcourt, so ensuring that a team like Seton Hall or Georgetown did not go out and get Soriano helps the Johnnies’ chances quite a bit.
They also have a four-star recruit coming in Brandon Gardner, a New York native who is 6’7 and can play that power forward spot.
Pitino is going to have a ton of resources at his disposal, it is just up to him to make the most of it and put St. John’s back on the map.