St. John’s Basketball Receives Surprising KenPom Ranking

The St. John’s Red Storm are just a few weeks away from the 2026-27 men’s college basketball season starting, but they still don’t know for sure who is going to be in their lineup.

Final decisions have yet to be made on the eligibility of several players on the roster. Forwards Babacar Sane and Keyshawn Hall both have temporary restraining orders to play, making them eligible for the time being.

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Forward Reed Bailey is eligible as a 5-in-5 player courtesy of a court ruling in California. St. John’s is still waiting on Quinn Ellis, an international player, to receive clearance to play.

Head coach Rick Pitino is confident all of his players will be eligible, which would give the Red Storm one of the best lineups in the country. However, until final decisions are made, St. John’s has a surprisingly low projection heading into the campaign according to KenPom.

Where did St. John’s land in the KenPom rankings?

Feb 28, 2026; New York, New York, USA; St. John’s Red Storm guard Ian Jackson (11) drives past Villanova Wildcats guard Christian Jeffrey (0) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 2026-27 rankings for men’s basketball have been revealed, and the Red Storm have come in at No. 23 with a Net Rating of +23.06. It will be interesting to see how much that changes if Sane, Hall and Ellis are all deemed eligible for the upcoming season.

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All three of them are projected to play massive roles in the rotation along with Bailey, helping replace a lot of talent. From last season’s Sweet 16 squad, the only returning rotation players are guard Ian Jackson and big man Ruben Prey.

They will almost assuredly be in the starting lineup alongside Tounde Yessoufou, a five-star-rated transfer from the Baylor Bears who withdrew from the 2026 NBA Draft and committed to St. John’s instead.

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Publish date : 2026-10-12 20:00:00

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