St. John’s basketball meets with ’21 prospect that many locals are courting

St. John's basketball head coach Mike Anderson reacts to a play against Marquette
St. John's basketball head coach Mike Anderson reacts to a play against Marquette

The St. John’s basketball program virtually met with Class of 2021 prospect Samson Johnson, who has many local schools courting him.

Mike Anderson and St. John’s are continuing to pursue a weakness on its roster, front court players and front court depth.

The coaching staff completed a Zoom call today with Class of 2021 forward Samson Johnson, according to Zach Braziller of the New York Post.

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Johnson stars at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, New Jersey and stands at 6-foot-10, 200 pounds.

St. John’s offered the power forward back on April 15 and he holds a handful of offers from local schools and other programs that are considered rivals to the Red Storm.

Johnson’s full list of offers include Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Marquette, Miami, Syracuse, Xavier, and Connecticut.

Schools that are interested in the New Jersey star but have not offered are Creighton, Florida, and UCLA, among others.

Originally from Togo, West Africa, Johnson is raked as a three-star recruit by Rivals and Verbal Commits but is not ranked by the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

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In recent weeks the Red Storm have been in contact with many Class of 2021 forwards such as Franck Kepnang, Alex Tchikou, and Arthur Kaluma.

Out of those four players, St. John’s seems to be setting itself up to possibly land Kepnang and Johnson over Tchikou and Kaluma.

In the 2021-22 season, St. John’s will most likely still have Josh Roberts and Marcellus Earlington on its roster and while those two players certainly progressed in their first season under head coach Mike Anderson there needs to be more depth behind those players entering what would be their senior seasons.

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The Red Storm do not have a commitment from a player in the Class of 2021 yet, but seeing how hard the St. John’s coaching staff has been working, a commitment should be coming rather soon from a recruit.