The St. John’s basketball program was able to snap a lot of droughts this season, but the Johnnies will not be measured by its win total, or a conference championship and superstar center Zuby Ejiofor knows it.
“I feel like I have one more special year in me to be a National Champion,” Ejiofor told reporters last week at the 92nd Annual Haggerty All-Met Dinner.
“I’m pretty sure that’s everybody else’s mindset as well…we all want to win, and we did some really special things last year and we just want to build up on that and have a chance at the National Title.”
The Johnnies, however, will look very different. Nine players have departed its roster, including four starters, and will only return freshmen Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopolous along with Sadiku Ibine Ayo next to Ejiofor, who is likely to be the Big East Preseason Player of the Year.
Still, the Red Storm are poised to be a preseason Top 5 team after bringing in one of the most talented transfer portal classes behind Arizona State guard Joson Sanon, Providence forward Bryce Hopkins, Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers, North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell, and Idaho State guard Dylan Darling.
“They are guys with good character, not just special abilities on the court,” Ejiofor explained of the newest additions to the team. “They seem excited about the opportunity of being a Johnnie this year, so it’s really special.”
Rick Pitino highlighted the difficulties in his first season at St. John’s trying to get the team to play well early in the season after bringing in 13 players to the program. Pitino added just four transfers last offseason before signing six experienced players within the last month.
It’ll be a priority during offseason workouts to get everyone on the same page entering a season that is poised to have a very daunting non-conference schedule.
“It’s a full team reset,” Ejiofor added. “There’s a lot of new players coming in, so we have to mesh well together, especially this offseason.”