St. John’s Tops Big East Preseason Poll
The Big East coaches share the same sentiment as those in the Associated Press poll: it’s looking like a promising season for St. John’s.
During the media day for the conference, Rick Pitino’s team was positioned at the top of the Big East rankings—a notable achievement, being the first time since 1991.
Star forward Zubie Ejiofor received the accolade of preseason player of the year, while Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins landed a spot on the first team.
St. John’s narrowly edged out Connecticut State, claiming seven out of eleven first-place votes, with UConn earning the other four. The rankings continued with Creighton in third, Providence fourth, Marquette fifth, and Georgetown at sixth. New coach Kevin Willard’s Villanova came in seventh, trailed by Xavier, DePaul, Butler, and Seton Hall.
Regarded as one of the best two-way forwards nationally, the 6-foot-9 Ejiofor had an impressive last season—averaging 14.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks. He was pivotal to St. John’s strong defense, even leading the country in offensive rebounds with 4.4 per game, making him the only returning starter for the team.
The Red Storm are coming off arguably their best season in a quarter-century, clinching both the Big East regular season and postseason titles. They also secured an NCAA Tournament win for the first time in 25 years, not to mention assembling the top-ranked transfer class in the nation, per 247Sports.com.
Last week’s Associated Press preseason poll marked St. John’s at No. 5—an all-time high for the program to start the season.
The Big East first team included Hopkins and the Connecticut trio of Alex Karavan, Taris Reed Jr., and Solo Ball, as well as Marquette’s Chase Ross and Creighton’s Owen Freeman, who transferred from Iowa.
Sophomore Ian Jackson, a transfer from North Carolina State, made it to the second team for St. John’s, while teammates Joeson Sannon and Dillon Mitchell were recognized on the third team.
St. John’s is set to play No. 7 Michigan in an exhibition at the Garden this Saturday. Just last week, they managed to come back from a rocky first half to secure a 73-63 victory against CAA favorite Towson at Carnesecca Arena. Their regular season opener is on November 3rd, facing off against Quinnipiac.
