St. John’s basketball lands surprise commitment from Chris Ledlum

The St. John’s basketball program landed a verbal commitment from Chris Ledlum. 

Add another player to the St. John’s basketball roster after Chris Ledlum announced his commitment to the Red Storm on Wednesday.

Ledlum, a Harvard transfer, originally committed to Tennessee in May over St. John’s and Indiana but surprisingly left the program last week to reenter the transfer portal.

The Johnnies were always on the radar for the Brooklyn native.

VolQuest, the On3 Sports site dedicated to the Tennessee Volunteers, reported that Ledlum told head coach Rick Barnes that he wanted to return closer to home and his decision took the coaching staff by surprise.

The 6-foot-6 forward underwent surgery on his meniscus on July 9, according to the report, and entered the portal just three days later.

Chris Ledlum averaged 18.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.8 steals per game last season for Harvard and shot 47.3-percent from the field as he was named to the First Team All-Ivy League.

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He appeared in 70 games during his three seasons with the Crimson, starting 41.

St. John’s has already added the Ivy League Player of the Year to its roster from the transfer portal in Penn transfer Jordan Dingle.

St. John’s basketball needs to perform roster gymnastics

St. John’s finds itself needing to get creative as the team currently has 15 players that are slotted to be on scholarship on its roster, but the NCAA only permits 13 scholarships on a roster.

However, the Red Storm could use Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) to try and compensate for its excess of players to scholarships, or a player who joined the team as a graduate transfer could reenter the portal, like Chris Ledlum did at Tennessee, and find a new place to play this season.

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Only two players, Joel Soriano and Drissa Traore, are remaining with the Johnnies from Mike Anderson’s tenure.

St. John’s is in position to be a top-tier team in the Big East under Rick Pitino and is likely to snap its NCAA Tournament drought, not making the Big Dance since its First Four berth in 2019 and not winning a game in March Madness since 2000.

The Red Storm have not been in the Sweet 16 since 1999, when it lost to Ohio State in the Elite 8.