A year ago St. John's roster was in purgatory.
Now, the Red Storm resembles a unit that is on the rise in the Big East.
St. John's hasn't won any games with its revamped talent base, but it's looking more and more like the 8-24 record that Chris Mullin had in his first year as head coach at his alma mater is set to be nothing more than an aberration.
The Red Storm return four rotation pieces from this past season in Federico Mussini, Malik Ellison, Kassoum Yakwe, Yankuba Sima as well as Tennessee transfer Tariq Owens to go with a recruiting class headlined by Jefferson's Shamorie Ponds -- a top-40 prospect nationally -- and JUCO import Bashir Ahmed (Hutchinson Community College).
Both Ponds and Ahmed are expected to compete for starting spots out of the gate while German import Richard Freudenberg has mismatch ability as a stretch four-man at 6-foot-8.
Redshirt freshman point guard Marcus LoVett will also become eligible for St. John's next season and after watching the lefty perform in practice, it's safe to say that this is the type of player that could fall out of bed and score 10-12 points.
The Red Storm also added two impact transfers last week in Michigan State's Marvin Clark and Arizona's Justin Simon, who both will sit out the upcoming season before becoming eligible in the fall of 2017.
Sources have also told CBS Sports that Arkansas State transfer Anthony Livingston (15.5 points, 9.4 rebounds last season) -- a 6-8 power forward who will be immediately eligible next year -- will visit the Queens campus during the upcoming weekend.
There's no telling how all these pieces are going to mesh, especially early next season when St. John's will have to undertake a brutal early schedule featuring three games in the prestigious Battle 4 Atlantis plus road tilts at Syracuse, Tulane, and Minnesota (Gavitt Games), but the resources are now in place for this once proud program to carve out its place in the Big East.
Now, the Red Storm resembles a unit that is on the rise in the Big East.
St. John's hasn't won any games with its revamped talent base, but it's looking more and more like the 8-24 record that Chris Mullin had in his first year as head coach at his alma mater is set to be nothing more than an aberration.
The Red Storm return four rotation pieces from this past season in Federico Mussini, Malik Ellison, Kassoum Yakwe, Yankuba Sima as well as Tennessee transfer Tariq Owens to go with a recruiting class headlined by Jefferson's Shamorie Ponds -- a top-40 prospect nationally -- and JUCO import Bashir Ahmed (Hutchinson Community College).
Both Ponds and Ahmed are expected to compete for starting spots out of the gate while German import Richard Freudenberg has mismatch ability as a stretch four-man at 6-foot-8.
Redshirt freshman point guard Marcus LoVett will also become eligible for St. John's next season and after watching the lefty perform in practice, it's safe to say that this is the type of player that could fall out of bed and score 10-12 points.
The Red Storm also added two impact transfers last week in Michigan State's Marvin Clark and Arizona's Justin Simon, who both will sit out the upcoming season before becoming eligible in the fall of 2017.
Sources have also told CBS Sports that Arkansas State transfer Anthony Livingston (15.5 points, 9.4 rebounds last season) -- a 6-8 power forward who will be immediately eligible next year -- will visit the Queens campus during the upcoming weekend.
There's no telling how all these pieces are going to mesh, especially early next season when St. John's will have to undertake a brutal early schedule featuring three games in the prestigious Battle 4 Atlantis plus road tilts at Syracuse, Tulane, and Minnesota (Gavitt Games), but the resources are now in place for this once proud program to carve out its place in the Big East.
