St. John’s basketball target Kadary Richmond opts for conference rival

St. John’s basketball transfer target Kadary Richmond has committed to a conference rival. 

There wasn’t much optimism for the St. John’s basketball program to land Syracuse transfer Kadary Richmond, but one of the worst case scenarios came to fruition on Tuesday afternoon.

Richmond committed to head coach Kevin Willard and the Seton Hall Pirates.

There was a heavy Big East involvement in his recruitment after departing the Orange as the 6-foot-5, 185 pound guard had been receiving interest from the Johnnies and Pirates as well as UConn, Creighton, Providence, Florida State, Maryland, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State.

Many thought the Seminoles were the favorite to land the Brooklyn, New York native after the ACC abolished the intraconference transfer rule.

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In his one season under Jim Boeheim, Richmond struggled with Syracuse’s offensive concepts but thrived on the defensive end of the ball with his length and athleticism in the Orange’s zone.

Kadary Richmond played in 28 games as freshman, starting three, and averaged 6.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game on 45.3-percent shooting from the floor and 33.3-percent from 3-point range.

Out of South Shore High School and Brewster Academy (N.H), Richmond was ranked as a four-star prospect and the No. 88 player in the Class of 2020, No. 18 small forward, and No. 4 player in the state of New Hampshire, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

Richmond held offers from Seton Hall and St. John’s, among many others, before his commitment to Syracuse.

St. John’s basketball still surveying transfer portal

The transfer portal is still extremely active and the Johnnies will be busy trying to recruit players to Queens as St. John’s has seen seven players enter the transfer portal since the completion of its season, a loss to Seton Hall in the Quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

Isaih Moore, Vince Cole, Josh Roberts, John McGriff, Greg Williams Jr., Marcellus Earlington, and Rasheem Dunn have all entered the portal while David Caraher transferred from St. John’s in early January.

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Sophomore star Julian Champagnie is testing the 2021 NBA Draft waters while not having to announce his final decision until early July.

St. John’s had already landed Purdue’s Aaron Wheeler and Vermont’s Stef Smith in the transfer portal this offseason.