St. John’s basketball continues pursuit of four-star center with virtual visit

The St. John’s basketball team is continuing its pursuit of Class of 2021 four-star center Franck Kepnang.

St. John’s is certainly determined on the recruiting trail and Mike Anderson is trying to use all the available tactics to his advantage as the Johnnies completed a virtual visit with four-star recruit Franck Kepnang on Sunday morning.

Kepnang, one of the top players in the Class of 2021, is being heavily sought after by schools such as Kansas, Maryland, Georgetown, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and UCLA.

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Sunday marks the second virtual visit between St. John’s and Franck Kepnang within the last three weeks as Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog reported the Westtown High School star also had visits with Pittsburgh, Ohio State, and Miami in that time period.

Jason Jordan of Sports Illustrated was the first to report the virtual visit between the two sides on Sunday morning while Corey Evans of Rivals recently explained that Kepnang could be a candidate to reclassify from 2021 to 2020 although that seems unlikely at the moment.

However, if the 6-foot-11, 247 pound center were to jump over to the Class of 2020, St. John’s would still be able to bring in the No. 23 player in the junior class because of the scholarship that was opened up after LJ Figueroa’s decision to transfer.

Franck Kepnang is also ranked as the No. 6 center in the Class of 2021 and the No. 1 player his home state of Pennsylvania.

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In the 2019-20 regular season, Kepnang took unofficial visits to Georgetown, Maryland, and St. John’s but has not given a timeline on a possible announcement date.

Franck Kepnang’s style of play would perfect fit into the style of Mike Anderson although the prospect still needs to sharpen his offensive game, especially in terms of scoring with his back to the basket.

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Defensively, Kepnang thrives at blocking shots around the rim and running the floor, two highly favored qualities in the Red Storm’s system.

St. John’s does not have a commitment from a player in the Class of 2021 as of yet, but that shouldn’t last too much longer with the activity the coaching staff has shown on the trail.