A new rumor about St. John’s basketball suggests the program is expected to invest even more heavily in their NIL collectives to land some high-impact talent in the transfer portal.
For St. John’s fans, this weekend was not the way they expected to end their run in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Despite being a top team in the nation late in the season and winning the Big East, they surprisingly flopped against Arkansas in Round 2 of March Madness. Nevertheless, when the frustration wears off, there is a lot to be proud of this season.
Year two under legendary head coach Rick Pitino saw a huge step forward. The program won 31 games (11 more than last season) and won the Big East tournament for the first time in 25 years. However, unlike in decades past, their success was not based on recruiting Tri-State area high school stars. Instead, St. John’s were major players in the transfer portal year.
Being New York City’s top college basketball team paid off in 2024 with huge NIL investments to bring in Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall), Deivon Smith (Utah), Vince Iwuchukwu (USC), and Aaron Scott (North Texas). All of those players made impacts this season. Unfortunately, Richmond, Smith, and Scott are out of eligibility.
St. John’s gets a huge increase in NIL donations ahead of 2025 transfer portal
Furthermore, top scorer RJ Luis Jr. could make the jump to the NBA this spring. Leaving the school with four big holes on the roster. However, that NYC financial might is expected to come up big in keeping St. John’s good again in 2025-26 — and beyond.
“Finances don’t figure to be an issue,” New York Post college basketball reporter Zach Braziller reported. “The school is planning to invest significantly in the new revenue-sharing model once an upcoming House settlement is approved. And it doesn’t have to worry about football like teams in other power conferences.
“Plus, donations to St. John’s two Name, Image and Likeness Collectives — Storm Marketing and Flat Top Fund — are way up.”
Adding to that is top booster, billionaire Mike Repole, made it clear he plans to keep dropping boatloads of money into their collectives. “Big Time St John’s Basketball in NYC is back!!!!!,” he said in a thank you post to the team and head coach Rick Pitino on X. “I A$$URE you that this incredibly successful year will be the standard and the expectation for years to come!!!!!”
Pitino claimed last week he does not plan on bringing in high school recruits this offseason. And will focus totally on adding players from the 2025 transfer portal.
More college basketball rumors:
- Schools like Notre Dame, Ohio State, Duke and St. John’s could soon have easier route to land elite transfers
- St. John’s coach Rick Pitino surprisingly admits he’ll pass on all 5-star recruits this offseason for one major reason
- St. John’s basketball coach Rick Pitino reveals what could lure him out of NYC amid Indiana Hoosiers rumors