Big East coaches pick St. John’s to finish second in preseason poll

The Big East coaches are high on the St. John’s backcourt and expect the Johnnies to remain near the top of the league.

In the annual poll and preseason all-league honors voted on by the coaches on media day, Rick Pitino’s team was picked to finish second in the league behind Connecticut. Guards Ian Jackson and Tounde Yessoufou were selected to the conference’s first team.

St. John’s Red Storm coach Rick Pitino celebrates the end of an NCAA Tournament win against the Kansas Jayhawks. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

St. John’s received two out of 11 votes for first place. UConn landed eight and Marquette garnered the final one. Villanova was picked third, Marquette was fourth, followed by Providence at five, Xavier at six and Creighton was seventh. Seton Hall came in ninth after No. 8 DePaul. Georgetown and Butler were predicted to finish at the bottom at 10th and 11th respectively.

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A year ago, St. John’s strength was up front, led by Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor, who became the program’s first first-round NBA Draft pick since Maurice Harkless went 15th overall in 2012. The Johnnies repeated as Big East regular season and postseason champion, and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.

This season, the backcourt is expected to be terrific. There are high hopes for Jackson in his second season in Queens, now that he will be playing his natural position of shooting guard. Yessoufou was a consensus top-10 transfer in the country. The 6-foot-5 standout averaged 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.6 assists as a freshman at Baylor and was considered a potential late first-round pick, before opting to return to school. The last piece to the backcourt is EuroLeague addition Quinn Ellis of Great Britain, a top-flight point guard. While the…

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Publish date : 2026-10-01 12:00:00

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