No. 14 St. John's: Projected Rotation & Season Outlook
Coach Rick Pitino has been been outspoken about how fond he is of the talent overseas, and a large core of his incoming players will be international freshman next season. Quinn Ellis is expected to lead the way as the team's starting point guard after playing in Italy for the last few years. Ellis will join an interesting backcourt alongside Ian Jackson, who was a former 5-star recruit that Pitino is hoping can take a big leap into his junior season.
The big fish that the Red Storm landed was Tounde Yessoufou, who surprisingly decided to return to school for his sophomore season. Yessoufou is coming off a big year at Baylor in which he averaged nearly 18 PPG. A big area of focus will likely be improving as an outside shooter after hitting at just a 29.3-percent clip last season.
Donnie Freeman was another major add in the transfer portal, but he unfortunately will miss the upcoming season due to an Achilles injury.
Obviously the hardest thing for coach Pitino to replace is going to be Zuby Ejiofor. He was the heart and soul of this team for the last couple years, and now St. John's has more of a perimeter-oriented look and feel. Ruben Prey will play a much larger role heading into his junior campaign. He played very sparingly last season, but was productive and brought a lot of energy whenever his number was called. 4-star center Theo Edema should also be able to carve out a rotation spot because St. John's is a little short on size going into next season, especially after Freeman went down.
Two late adds to the team that have St. John's in a much better position were Keyshawn Hall and Reed Bailey. This will be Hall's fifth team in as many years ,and no matter where he has been, the production has been amazing. Last year he averaged 19.3 PPG, 7 RPG, 2.6 APG and 1.8 3PM at Auburn. Hall gives St. John's an extremely strong 1-2 scoring punch alongside Yessoufou.
Bailey, on the other hand, was a three-year starter at Davidson before transferring to Indiana last year, where he became a reliable role player and even started 10 games. Bailey and Prey should battle for that starting center job with the Johnnies.
A lot of pressure will fall on coach Pitino to get all these players with very diverse backgrounds to be able to come together and work as a unit on both ends of the floor. Defense and toughness have been core staples for St. John's since Pitnino took the job, and that is the main concern heading into the season. That said, the offensive upside may very well be the best he has had with the Red Storm.
Check out how injuries are affecting the status of other players & teams on RotoWire's college basketball injury report.
2026-27 St. John's Basketball Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Quinn Ellis (8.4 PPG for Olimpia Milano)
SG: Ian Jackson (9.4 PPG)
SF: Tounde Yessoufou (17.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG at Baylor)
PF: Keyshawn Hall (19.3 PPG, 7.0 RPG at Auburn)
C: Reed Bailey (8.3 PPG at Indiana)
Key Reserves: Ruben Prey (4.1 PPG), Lefteris Liotopoulos (2.9 PPG), Kyle Cuffe Jr. (7.3 PPG at Mercer), Babacar Sane (International Freshman), Theo Edema (4-Star Freshman), Avery Brown (Redshirt), Djordije Jovanovic (International Freshman), Lazar Stojkovic (International Freshman)
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