St. John’s basketball lands first high school prospect of Rick Pitino era

The St. John’s basketball program landed its first high school prospect under Rick Pitino. 

The transfer portal has been the go-to fix for many college basketball programs this offseason and the St. John’s basketball team is no stranger to that.

In fact, all of the players that Rick Pitino has brought into Queens since being named as the new head coach of the Red Storm have been from the transfer portal, until now.

St. John’s landed Brady Dunlap last week, a former Notre Dame pledge.

Dunlap reopened his recruitment once it was announced that the Irish and head coach Mike Brey would be parting ways at the conclusion of the season.

https://twitter.com/StJohnsBBall/status/1654235514768093188?s=20

The California native announced a Top-5 in April that also included Villanova, Penn State, North Carolina, and Nebraska.

“Brady Dunlap has an awesome future,” Pitino said in a statement.

“He’s a gym rat who shoots it as well as any wing basketball player out of the high school ranks.”

Dunlap is ranked as a 3-star prospect and the No. 153 recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

ALSO READ: Posh Alexander commits to Butler

However, the 6-foot-7 forward ranked No. 86 in the ESPN100.

“Brady [Dunlap] is athletic, quick and will really thrive in our fastbreak system,” Rick Pitino added.

St. John’s basketball still looking to add major piece

St. John’s has already landed transfers Daniss Jenkins, Sean Conway, Cruz Davis, Naheim Alleyne, Quinn Slazinski, and Glenn Taylor Jr. but remains involved with more recruits.

The Red Storm are linked to UPenn transfer Jordan Dingle, Mass transfer RJ Luis, and Kentucky transfer Lance Ware.

ALSO READ: St. John’s lands Oregon State transfer Glenn Taylor Jr.

However, the biggest piece the Johnnies are still after is 5-star forward Mackenzie Mgbako.

Mgbako recently visited St. John’s but is also touring Kansas, Indiana, and Louisville after decommitting from Duke in mid-April.

The Red Storm currently have three open scholarships for next season.