The roster gymnastics have already begun for the St. John’s basketball program as the college basketball world inches closer to the 5-for-5 ruling that would allow players to compete for five season and the Red Storm have not wasted any time.
Just days into the legal rulings, there are rumors of the Johnnies looking to retain standout forward Dillon Mitchell despite being selected as the No. 40 pick in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics in June.
However, the biggest factor is that Mitchell has not signed an NBA contract and would be going into his fifth – and final – year of eligibility according to the new rules.
Yet the problem with St. John’s is that it was at its hard roster cap of 16 players, one higher than the 15-player roster limit by the NCAA because of the Achillies rupture to Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman that will sideline him for the season.
According to new NCAA rules, a team can exceed the 15-player roster limit if one of its players has been ruled out for the season.
St. John’s fulfilled that provision by adding Hungarian forward Zsombor Maronka but, coincidentally, another roster spot as opened after Gildas Gimenez has been ruled academically ineligible and will not be on the roster this year.
The news of Gimenez’s ineligibility was first reported by the New York Post.
Gildas Gimenez committed to St. John’s in late June and last played for CIA Bella Vista Prep (AZ) while also playing in Barcelona’s basketball program earlier in his youth career. He was set to be the third freshmen on the Red Storm roster, joining Serbian center Lazar Stojković and Theo Edema.
Now, with a roster spot available, the Red Storm can be aggressive in its pursuit of a player that becomes eligible in the wake of several court rulings involving the 5-for-5 agenda or they can hope Dillon Mitchell opts to run it back with the program for one more season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google