The St. John’s basketball team is ensuring that it will not be hampered by a limited number of bodies in practice anymore.
After needing assistant coaches to join practices late last season in order to play 5-on-5, the Johnnies have capped its roster for the 2025-26 season by adding Casper Pohto, a point guard from Sunrise Christian Academy (Kansas).
Pohto announced his commitment on Saturday afternoon, and it was made official by the school on Tuesday.
“Casper is a physical guard who has the ability to attack downhill and fits perfect with our style of play,” Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino said in a statement released by the program. “He is a young athlete who will learn from a lot of great veterans, which will be special for his growth and special for our basketball team.”
The 6-foot-4 guard, who spent time during his high school career at New Jersey powerhouse St. Benedict’s Prep, visited Queens last week and becomes the third high school prospect to commit to the Johnnies this offseason, joining international recruit Imran Suljanovic and 4-star recruit Kelvin Odih.
A native of Sweden, Pohto has experience playing internationally, logging minutes at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket in 2024 while averaging 13.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
He also played for Sweden during the 2022 U16 European Championships and posted 13.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
After having a lot of questions surrounding its point guard position during the offseason, St. John’s will be entering workouts next week with North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson leading the way with Idaho State transfer Dylan Darling coming off the bench.
Playing time will be sparse for Casper Pohto this season but being able to practice and learn for a season could set him up for success in the future.