St. John’s males’s basketball has been reborn since hiring head coach Rick Pitino, however the faculty legend doesn’t have a few years left main this system. Pitino will flip 74 years previous earlier than the 2026-27 common season, making him the oldest energy convention coach in America by a pair years over Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.
Pitino led St. John’s to a No. 2 seed within the 2025 NCAA event, however the group misplaced within the spherical of 32. This previous season, St. John’s repeated because the Large East event champions, however their March Insanity run ended within the Candy 16 as a No. 5 seed. Pitino goes all out to place a Closing 4 caliber group collectively earlier than he finally retires, and on Wednesday evening the Purple Storm landed the ultimate piece of what needs to be one other elite roster.
Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou was regarded as a lock to enter the 2026 NBA Draft for many of his freshman yr. Questions on his three-point capturing and playmaking finally pushed him down the board, and when he entered his identify within the switch portal, many began to surprise if a school program would out-bid the NBA for his providers. That’s precisely what occurred: Yessoufou withdrew from the NBA and transferred to St. John’s on the faculty withdrawal deadline this week, and he reportedly acquired an enormous sum of cash to do it.
Yessoufou will reportedly make “upwards of $7 million” taking part in for St. John’s subsequent season, in keeping with reporter Aaron Heisen. It’s a surprising determine, however that’s what expertise goes for in immediately’s period of faculty hoops.
St. John’s wanted a gritty defender with scoring punch to spherical out its lineup, and Yessoufou is an ideal match. He’s constructed extra like a linebacker than a basketball participant with a hulking body that has drawn comparisons to Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder wing Lu Dort up to now. Yessoufou nonetheless averaged practically 18 factors per recreation as a freshman even with apparent holes in his ability set largely as a result of he completed effectively on the rim (68.5 p.c), confirmed off a pleasant mid-range recreation, and attacked the offensive glass. His ground spacing is a query mark with a 29 p.c stroke from three-point vary, but when he reveals any enchancment there, he’s most likely a first-round choose in a weaker 2027 NBA Draft.
Yessoufou isn’t a lot a ball handler or passer, however St. John’s has different gamers to deal with these duties. Level guard Quinn Ellis comes over from Olimpia Milano, the place he was one of many higher younger guards in EuroLeague. Ellis’ transition to varsity basketball will likely be fascinating as a 22-year-old, and it’s attainable he’s one of many higher guards within the sport. Ian Jackson can be returning to the Purple Storm subsequent season, and like Yessoufou, he was a McDonald’s All-American popping out of highschool.
Add in Syracuse switch Donnie Freeman to the entrance courtroom, and St. John’s has playmaking, capturing, and perimeter protection in its projected lineup.
The middle spot would be the query mark for the Johnnies, however they’ve loads of our bodies to take in minutes there. Ruben Prey has at all times intrigued me as a 6’11 stretch huge man out of Spain, and he might be in for an enormous leap as a junior.
The cash operating by faculty basketball is mind-blowing proper now. The Johnnies got here up with the money, they usually landed probably the greatest obtainable gamers within the nation over the NBA.
