noti.group’s Zach Braziller looks at five questions facing St. John’s for the 2025-26 college basketball season.
Will St. John’s be ready for its non-conference gauntlet?
The lone returning starter is Zuby Ejiofor, and only three other players are back. Coach Rick Pitino focused more on teaching his system than individual player development in the summer because of all the newcomers. It was smart to schedule the exhibition against seventh-ranked Michigan, with so many challenging games early in the season. Last year’s team, remember, really didn’t hit its stride until January, and it had more continuity. There is enough talent, however, to overcome the lack of familiarity.
Is there a point guard problem?
Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers enters Monday night’s opener against Quinnipiac as the starting point guard, with Dylan Darling (Idaho State) serving as the backup. Cincinnati’s Dillon Mitchell has also handled the ball plenty during the preseason, and Pitino has referred to him as a point forward. Darling, the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, is really the only true point guard on the roster. But in St. John’s up-tempo style predicated on motion, Pitino has stressed that everyone will initiate offense, creating less of a need for a true floor general.
Have the 3-point shooting issues been solved?
St. John’s prioritized shooting in the offseason, adding Joson Sanon (Arizona State), Ian Jackson (North Carolina) and Sellers in the transfer portal, three players who all shot at least 37 percent from distance a year ago. Greek marksman Lefteris Liotopoulos could be more of a contributor as a sophomore, and Darling is capable of making shots from deep. Expect a major improvement from beyond the arc after the Red Storm were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country a year ago (339th) at 30.1 percent.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
