St. John’s basketball: Recruitment of local standout proving to be confusing
The recruitment of a St. John’s basketball target continues to be one of the most confusing processes, according to one industry expert.
St. John’s fans are able to take a deep breath now that the Red Storm are on the board in the Class of 2021 following a commitment this week from Drissa Traore but it still leaves Red Storm fans thinking “what’s next?”.
Well, one local prospect that head coach Mike Anderson and his staff have been targeting is Samson Johnson.
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Johnson, a 6-foot-10 power forward in the rising senior class, stars at The Patrick School (N.J.) and the landscape of his commitment reaches from a handful of local programs to schools budding on the cusp of national relevance.
A handful of weeks ago 247 Sports spoke with Johnson’s AAU coach Jay David and he said that St. John’s, Cincinnati, and Connecticut have been calling the four-star prospect the most but there were still many other programs involved in his recruitment.
However, Rivals recruiting expert Corey Evans weighed in on Samson Johnson’s recruitment calling it confusing and very wide open as “his stock has soared in recent months, and some of the very best throughout the Northeast see him as a heavy priority”.
Evans wrote on the topic thanks to a Q&A on his Twitter page in which he answers a select number of questions in a column on Rivals.
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The expert pegged the Connecticut Huskies as the cautious favorite to land Johnson but explains “that is not the most confident prediction because things still have to play out some more before a real leader emerges”.
The programs that are on the tail of Johnson the most include St. John’s, Miami (FL), Providence, Connecticut, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh.
Samson Johnson would be a much needed and beloved player in Queens as a rim-running, shot blocking force in the paint that has been absent at St. John’s for a number of years.
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No timetable has been provided by Johnson for a possible cutdown of his list or announcement date.