St. John's basketball transfer target Cliff Omoruyi drops interesting Top-12 options

Things are coming to a crescendo in the recruitment of Rutgers transfer center Cliff Omoruyi and the St. John's basketball team is right in the mix.

Omoruyi announced a list of programs that are still in the running for his services, which include North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas State, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, Baylor, Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Mississippi State, and the Red Storm.

He is widely considered as a Top-15 player in the transfer portal and will make an immediate impact to whichever team he selected due to his defensive dominance, averaging 2.9 blocks per game this season with the Scarlet Knights.

St. John's has the 6-foot-11 center at the top of its wishlist of players in the transfer portal and has a connection to the Nigeria native with the Johnnies' general manager, Matt Abdelmassih, being his agent when he tested the NBA Draft waters last offseason.

Cliff Omoruyi was also teammates in his final year of high school at Roselle Catholic (NJ) with St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher. The expectation is that he will visit the program soon, although no dates have been finalized.

St. John's is looking for Joel Soriano's replacement, who has exhausted all his eligibility, after averaging 13.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.

Zuby Ejiofor, who was Soriano's backup this season, will be playing more power forward next season and the Johnnies will add Khaman Maker, a 7-foot freshman to its roster next season, although he would not be ready for many minutes.

Amari Williams, a transfer from Drexel, just completed his official visit in Queens but still has trips booked to Creighton, Indiana, and Kentucky. He is a 3-time Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Defensive Player of the Year.

The priority is clear from Rick Pitino and his coaching staff at St. John's, now they just have to close the deal on one of these highly sought after players.