St. John’s was expected to be active in this month’s college basketball portal. In the next few days, they hope to land a couple of their top targets after a pair of visits.
For Red Storm fans, their run in the 2025 NCAA Tournament ended far quicker than they had hoped. Despite being a top team in the nation this season and winning the Big East, they flopped against Arkansas in Round 2 of March Madness. But the frustration has worn off, and there was a lot to look back on and be proud of this past 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 was a major player in the transfer portal. And they hope to do so again this month.
Pitino admitted before the season ended that they would not be looking to add five-star talent from the high school ranks. Instead, he felt the road to a potential Final Four birth would come in the portal. Over the next couple of days, they are hoping to lock up a pair of major targets.
St. John’s meeting with 4 portal targets soon, including North Carolina standout Ian Jackson
On Thursday, college basketball insider Adam Zagoria reported on three players Pitino and the St. John’s staff will be meeting this week. Including a native New Yorker from a top ACC program.
“Rick Pitino’s team will host Princeton transfer point guard Xaivian Lee and Stanford transfer guard Oziyah Sellers beginning Friday, while North Carolina transfer guard and Bronx, NY native Ian Jackson is set to visit Monday, per sources,” Zagoria wrote. “Cincinnati transfer forward Dillon Mitchell will also visit this weekend.”
Lee has drawn interest from several major programs since entering the program. The Princeton star posted 16.9 points per game and just under 37% from the arc and 89% from the line. He is also a strong rebounder from out of the backcourt. Sellers has also declared for the NBA Draft following a breakthrough season for Stanford after transferring from USC. He averaged over 13 points and shot 40% from three this past season.
Jackson was rock-solid in his freshman year for the Tar Heels. In just under 24 minutes per game, he tallied 11.9 points, hit on 40% from the arc and 72% at the line. Mitchell is the only non-guard coming in for a visit. But he played well for Cincinnati in 2024-25. Averaging 10 points, 7 boards, and 1.4 steals per game.
More college basketball transfer portal news: