St. John's basketball has emerged as clear favorites for major impact transfers

Nothing is ever a guarantee in recruiting but a college basketball insider believes the St. John's basketball team is the favorite to land two major players in the transfer portal.

247Sports' Travis Branham said on Wednesday that the Johnnies are in the drivers seat for Miami forward Norchad Omier and Seton Hall guard Kadary Richmond.

"If I'm Rick Pitino and the St. John's program, I'm feeling pretty good about this recruitment," Branham said about Omier.

The standout Miami forward is coming off a season in which he was named to the Second Team All-ACC after averaging 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while being dominant in each of his four seasons of college basketball.

He was the Sun Belt Player of the Year as a sophomore at Arkansas State.

"All things are pointing to, right now, that St. John's is in the drivers seat in this recruitment, however, there are other schools that are keeping their eyes closely on Norchad Omier," Branham continued.

"They are definitely going to be shooting their shot in a very big way to see if they can block this move from Miami up to St. John's."

St. John's has landed two players from the transfer portal this offseason, Southern California center Vince Iwuchukwu and North Texas wing Aaron Scott.

As the conversation shifted to Seton Hall transfer Kadary Richmond, Branham was just as confident about the Red Storm's chances.

"St. John's, with Omier, is in the drivers seat of this recruitment," he explained of Richmond's process.

It was almost immediate that the Red Storm became the favorite for First Team All-Big East selection as soon as he entered the transfer portal, who averaged 15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game.

Both Kadary Richmond and Norchad Omier entered the transfer portal within hours of each other last Thursday.

St. John's continues to look for a point guard to replace Daniss Jenkins and trying to soldify its frontcourt which has seen Joel Soriano graduate and the likely departure of Chris Ledlum, who is suing the NCAA for another year of eligibility.

No timelines have been provided for decision from Omier or Richmond but an announcement could come as early as next week.