Big East Basketball: Preseason conference power rankings 2023-24
7. St. John’s Red Storm
Last season:18-15, 7-13 in the Big East
After winning seven games in the conference, the cupboard is bare for head coach Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm heading into the 2023-24 season as he takes over. Pitino led Iona to two appearances in the NCAA Tournament and two MAAC regular-season and conference tournament championships and a 74.4 percent winning percentage across three seasons. Now, he’ll look to turn things around in Queens and lead the Red Storm back to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Pitino brings with him a slew of transfer portal names including Jordan Dingle (Penn), Chris Ledlum (Harvard), Glenn Taylor Jr. (Oregon State), Nahiem Alleyne (UConn), Cruz Davis (Iona) and R.J. Luis (UMass) along with highly regarded freshman guard Simeon Wilcher.
They’ll return forward Joel Soriano and Drissa Traore from last year’s rotation. Soriano should continue to lead the frontcourt after earning the Big East Most Improved Player award off of 15.2 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 1.4 bpg and 1.3 apg on 56.3 percent shooting from the floor. He’s a 6-foot-11 presence who should go out with a bang under Coach Pitino as a solid building backcourt.
The Red Storm will have a lot of moving parts as the coaching staff will have to build a new squad in a hurry in a vaunted Big East. They’ll have to rebuild the backcourt in a hurry and find spots for 10 transfer portal acquisitions, but things could work out given Coach Pitino’s previous success.
Daniss Jenkins (Iona) looks like the easiest fill at point guard. He’s a 6-foot-4 floor general who averaged 15.6 ppg, 4.9 apg and 1.4 spg for Pitino’s Iona squad this past season. He’ll lead the charge with Wilcher spelling him at backup. 6-foot-7 R.J. Luis (UMass) is another appealing addition at the shooting guard role. He averaged 11.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.3 apg and 1.1 spg on 34.8 percent shooting from deep and 45.5 percent shooting from the floor as an All-A10 Freshmen selection in 2022-23.
Ledlum could provide support on the wing as could Alleyne as a reserve with his perimeter shooting. Taylor should pose as the starting power forward given his size and production. He averaged 11.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 2.2 apg across 32 contests for Oregon State this past year. Soriano should shore things up at the center spot.
There’s an early chance that with all the moving pieces, St. John’s can figure things out and make some noise in the Big East. They’ll need their transfer portal additions to work out in a big way or adversity could be the theme for them in 2023-24.