The St. John’s basketball team made its biggest splash in the transfer portal.
Rick Pitino made several quality additions in the transfer portal this offseason but the St. John’s basketball team was lacking that major impact player.
That is no longer a deficiency in Queens.
The Red Storm landed a commitment from Penn transfer Jordan Dingle on Friday morning in a major boost to the team’s roster for next winter.
Dingle, the second leading scorer in the NCAA last season at 23.4 points per game, was named as the Ivy League Player of the Year and is going through the NBA Draft process while fielding calls from teams in the transfer portal.
Despite his workouts for NBA teams and desire to be drafted, all signs point to Dingle becoming an Johnnie next season.
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“Really excited to have Jordan Dingle joining the Red Storm,” Rick Pitino said in a statement.
“His goals are plain and simple. As a loyal New Yorker, help bring back St. John’s to basketball royalty, and then become a first round draft choice.”
The 6-foot-3 junior also posted 3.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest while shooting 46.4-percent from the field and 35.6-percent from 3-point range.
“I’m all in on making that happen,” Pitino added.
Dingle, despite reported heavy interest from Kentucky, only visited St. John’s and picked the Red Storm over programs like UCLA, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Florida State, and others.
St. John’s basketball roster nearly complete
Jordan Dingle joins an entirely revamped Red Storm roster around returning players Joel Soriano and Drissa Traore that boasts nine transfers including the Iona quartet of Daniss Jenkins, Cruz Davis, Quinn Slazinski, and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, UConn’s Nahiem Alleyne, VMI’s Sean Conway, Oregon State’s Glenn Taylor Jr., and UMass’ RJ Luis.
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St. John’s has one remaining scholarship available and it’s likely the program will target a big man to play in a reserve role behind Soriano.
Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor will visit campus this weekend while the Johnnies have also been linked to Kentucky transfer Lance Ware and North Carolina State transfer Isaiah Miranda, who is also going through the NBA Draft process.