St. John’s Basketball Surprisingly Lacks AP Preseason All-America Team Rep

The St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team has as much talent on the roster as any in the country.

Head coach Rick Pitino has gone to great lengths to restock a roster that lost several key rotation players to the transfer portal, graduation and the professional ranks. Ian Jackson and Ruben Prey are the two most prominent rotation players who are back from last season’s Sweet 16 squad.

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They are joined by a lot of talented players. While questions still remain about their long-term eligibility, for now, everyone on the St. John’s roster is able to play, including guard Peyton Ellis and forwards Babacar Sane, Keyshawn Hall and Reed Bailey.

The first two are international players who are seeking eligibility, while the latter are looking to gain a fifth year of eligibility with the new 5-in-5 rules. Don’t forget about five-star transfer Tounde Yessoufou, who spent his freshman year with the Baylor Bears.

St. John’s has zero players on AP Preseason All-America list

Mar 27, 2026; Washington, DC, USA;St. John’s Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts in the first half during a Sweet Sixteen game of the East Regional of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That is a ton of talent for Pitino to deploy, yet the Red Storm were surprisingly absent from the AP Preseason All-America voting list. The 58-person media panel had 28 different players receiving votes, but none of them were St. John’s representatives.

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The top five vote-getters were Jeremy Fears of the Michigan State Spartans, Thomas Haugh of the Florida Gators, Tyler Tanner of the Vanderbilt Commodores, David Mirkovic of the Illinois Fighting Illini and Motiejus Krivas of the Arizona Wildcats.

As a conference, the Big East wasn’t represented a ton. Only two players made the cut, both from the Red Storm’s biggest competition, the UConn Huskies. Braylon Mullins received 11 votes, and Silas Demary received eight.

There…

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Publish date : 2026-10-22 17:00:00

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