St. John’s among the most active teams in the 2023 transfer portal

When Rick Pitino took over at St. John’s, he was explicit about his desire to remake the Red Storm roster. Six members of Johnnies, including Posh Alexander, immediately entered the transfer portal, which meant that St. John’s was going to be active in the transfer portal to replace them. 

They got started on Thursday afternoon when they landed Iona transfer Daniss Jenkins and then continued on Sunday with the announcement that fellow Iona guard Cruz Davis will be transferring to St. John’s as well. 

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Jenkins was second-team All-MAAC this past season after averaging 15.6 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.4 rebounds and shooting 36.1 percent from 3-point range. He visited last weekend with former teammate Walter Clayton Jr., the MAAC Player of the Year, but while Clayton decided to transfer to Florida, Jenkins and David will be joining their former coach in Queens. 

Davis averaged 6.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in 24 games as a freshman for Iona, being named to the All-MAAC Freshman Team. Davis was a three-star prospect coming out of high school and was committed to Oregon State before deciding to play for Pitino at Iona. At 6’3″, he’s an athletic defender and a good shooter, who will likely be a depth piece at St. John’s. 

St. John’s also pulled in a commitment from former VMI forward Sean Conway. A graduate transfer, Conway is known as a knock-down shooter, hitting 37.8% of his shots from beyond the arc this year and 36.6% in his four-year career at VMI. He also averaged 12.1 points, and 4.9 rebounds per game and will be yet another option to space the floor for the Red Storm next year. 

However, that certainly won’t be the end of the activity for St. John’s, which has been listed as a potential landing spot for a few key potential transfers, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. Let’s take a look at some of these names and what they might bring to the Red Storm. 

Gonzaga guard Hunter Sallis

Sallid is one of the bigger names in the transfer portal by nature of appearing in all 37 games for Gonzaga last season. The 6’5″ guard averaged 4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 16.7 minutes in his sophomore season.

However, he was the 21st-ranked player in the Class of 2021 according to 247Sports‘ rankings, and was described as “someone who can be a lead guard who takes care of the basketball and controls the game as a scorer and a distributor.” 247 Sports’ scouts believe that “once he gains strength and gets more confident in his own ability, the sky is the limit for what he can accomplish going forward.”

Perhaps being coached by Rick Pitino at St. John’s will help get that out of Sallis, but there is heavy competition for his services with schools like Louisville, Michigan, and Arizona also interested. 

UMass guard RJ Luis

As a freshman last season, Luis averaged 11.5 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Minutemen, while shooting 35% from beyond the arc. He was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team and showed the ability to score points in bunches, putting up 31 against Duquesne and scoring over 20 points on four occasions. 

At 6’6″ and 190 pounds, he has good size for a guard and would bring floor spacing as a solid shooter from the perimeter. He’s also a strong perimeter defender, where his long arms help him to guard multiple positions while also rebounding well for his position. 

He’s another player who is receiving significant interest with Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Maryland, among others, all interested in bringing him on board. 

Harvard forward Chris Ledlum

Another potential option at forward Ledlum, was named first-team All-Ivy in 2023 after averaging 18.8 points and 8.5 rebounds for Harvard as a junior. While he’s not the shooter that some of the other names on this list are (he shot 29.4% from 3-point range and 63.6% from the free-throw line), he is a physical presence at 6’6″ and 225 pounds and is a strong defender who averaged 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. 

He was the leading rebounder in the Ivy League, but also is capable of bringing the ball up the court and can also score off the dribble or in the low post. A versatile weapon on the wing, Ledlum would be a great complement to the guards and shooters who have already transferred to St. John’s but the team has competition for him with schools like Gonzaga, Florida, Virginia, and Michigan State also involved. 

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