If Chris Mullin can snag a few of these guys, St. John’s Basketball could be sitting pretty nice in the Big East in 2016-17
By David Hong
It has been a huge struggle for the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball squad, but believe it or not, it could get much better next season.
The St. John’s current roster has a lot of freshmen in Frederico Mussini, Yankuba Sima, Malik Ellison, etc. Despite the poor record, all the freshmen have shown a little of what their potential and with a full season off their belts, they should be much better next season.
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St. John’s has another freshmen in Marcus Lovett who couldn’t play this season because of academic issues but he will be good to go next year.
The Red Storm also recruited guard Shamarie Ponds from Brooklyn next season as well as a big man from Germany.
They remain in pursuit of Word of God Academy small forward Rawle Alkins.
Head coach Chris Mullin and co. are not done yet.
According to SNY, St John’s assistant coach Barry ‘Slice’ Rohrssen visited a couple of five-star recruits this week. One is center Thon Maker in Canada and the other is Terrance Ferguson in Dallas.
Although the Johnnies have only one scholarship left for next season’s recruiting class, they are certainly able to make room if they can bring in a couple of difference makers.
Maker is a 7’0” from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada and is considering several colleges including St. John’s. He took an unofficial visit to St. John’s back in late January and was planning to attend the St. Johns vs Providence game on Saturday but him and his guardian were not able to make it.
Maker is a long, athletic, skilled player who can run the floor , which would be huge plus since Mullin plays an up-temp system. he can finish around the rim and make perimeter shots as well. He is a shot blocker too but he needs to add more strength in order to hang in at the collegiate level.
Ferguson meanwhile is from Dallas, Texas. He is a 6’5″ shooter who is 13th in ESPN’s top 100 recruiting ranking class for 2016 and is the fourth best shooting guard in the country. Along with his shooting touch, he is a good defender and he is explosive who can fly too.
So, if St. John’s can land both or even one of them, they will form a much more respectable and competitive bunch next year.
Chris Mullin may have had a tough time coaching, even though this is his rookie year, but one thing about Mully and his assistants is that they have been relatively aggressive on the recruiting and they have gone after many four and five star recruits. Some of them have accepted and some haven’tm but as Mullin gains experience he should have a better chance to snatch more high recruits.
If St. John’s can land both of these five-star recruits it would definitely be a huge plus to the program and not only will they have a better year next season, but it will definitely help them even more in recruiting more highly sought players as they see more guys go to St. John’s.
With the possibility of acquiring a couple of five-star players, the new recruits we already have, Marcus LoVett and the current freshmen back, St. John’s will definitely form a better and more formidable bunch.
