Rick Pitino saw great success in his second year as the head coach for St. John's. The Red Storm finished with a 31-5 overall record, including a Big East regular season and tournament championship. St. John's accomplished all of this despite having one of the worst three-point shooting percentages in the country as a team, ranking 347th nationally.
This statistic ultimately led to the Red Storm's downfall in the NCAA Tournament, as they went cold in a second-round upset to John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks. But the Johnnies still entered the offseason with a ton of momentum, and Pitino was able to parlay that into a massive haul in the transfer portla. Now, the team has a legitimate chance to advance to the school's first Final Four since 1985.
St. John's transfer portal haul is among the best in the country
The Red Storm added six players from the transfer portal this offseason, a list that includes North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers, Arizona State guard Joson Sanon, Providence forward Bryce Hopkins, Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell and Idaho State guard Dylan Darling.
Three of those players can help St. John's rectify its biggest weakness from 2024-25: 3-point Jackson, Sellers, and Sanon all shot 37 percent or better from three-point range at their previous schools.
Hopkins and Mitchell are two players who will also be key contributors for the Red Storm next season. Hopkins averaged 17 points per game to go with 7.7 rebounds and 3 assists last season in just three games played with the Friars. He missed the start of the season while recovering from a torn ACL the previous year and then missed the rest of the campaign with a different knee injury.
Mitchell has played three seasons with two different schools, including two with Texas and one with Cincinnati. In his one season in a Bearcat uniform, Mitchell averaged 9.9 points per game, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists.
Darling will be the most intriguing player to watch, given his success at a mid-major school. Darling started his collegiate career at Washington State before transferring to Idaho State after two seasons. In his one year with the Bengals, Darling averaged 19.8 points per game, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds.
With the addition of six talented transfers and the return of star center Zuby Ejiofor, St. John's is in a good position to defend their crown as Big East champs and make noise in next year's big dance. A Pitino team will always feature a ferocious defense, and if Jackson lives up to his recruiting pedigree and Hopkins comes back healthy, they should have an offense to match.