17. St. John’s Red Storm
2025-26 record: 30-7 (18-2 Big East)
Roster departures
- Zuby Ejiofor (16.3 ppg and 7.3 rpg)
- Bryce Hopkins (13.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg)
- Oziyah Sellers (10.3 ppg and 2.7 rpg)
- Dillon Mitchell (8.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg)
- Joson Sanon (7.9 ppg and 2.4 rpg)
- Dylan Darling (6.9 ppg and 2.6 apg)
Roster returnees
- Ruben Prey (4.3 ppg and 2.1 rpg)
- Ian Jackson (9.4 ppg and 2.3 rpg)
- Lefteris Liotopoulos (2.9 ppg and 0.9 rpg)
Roster additions
- Donnie Freeman (16.5 ppg and 7.2 rpg at Syracuse)
- Tounde Yessoufou (17.8 ppg and 5.9 rpg at Baylor)
- Avery Brown (4.3 ppg and 2.0 rpg at Columbia)
- Theo Edema (4-star center prospect)
- Quinn Ellis (international guard prospect)
- Lazar Stojkovic (international center prospect)
- Babacar Sane (international forward prospect)
Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou is headed to St. John’s, @KayserHoops reports.
— League Ready (@LeagueRDY) May 28, 2026
Major addition for Rick Pitino snagging one of the top overall players in the transfer portal. https://t.co/Pzqw6AxcSk pic.twitter.com/JpmhvaBxZZ
St. John’s has had one of the more high-profile offseasons, both winning and losing key battles. On the positive side, they beat out Kentucky for Freeman, one of the top frontcourt scorers from the ACC. And the most recent pickup was Yessoufou, who chose the Red Storm after withdrawing from the NBA Draft at the deadline.
The backcourt has more questions, but there’s hope that Ellis can be the lead guard that they didn’t have last year. Jackson had his ups and downs as a sophomore, but with less competition, he could have a breakout role with the Red Storm in the backcourt. Coach Rick Pitino is putting more faith in the international pipeline, but expect this core to remain a favorite in the Big East.
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