St. John’s men’s basketball has been reborn since hiring head coach Rick Pitino, but the college legend doesn’t have many years left leading the program. Pitino will turn 74 years old before the 2026-27 regular season, making him the oldest power conference coach in America by a couple years over Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson.
Pitino led St. John’s to a No. 2 seed in the 2025 NCAA tournament, but the team lost in the round of 32. This past season, St. John’s repeated as the Big East tournament champions, but their March Madness run ended in the Sweet 16 as a No. 5 seed. Pitino is going all out to put a Final Four caliber team together before he eventually retires, and on Wednesday night the Red Storm landed the final piece of what should be another elite roster.
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Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou was thought to be a lock to enter the 2026 NBA Draft for most of his freshman year. Questions about his three-point shooting and playmaking eventually pushed him down the board, and when he entered his name in the transfer portal, many started to wonder if a college program would out-bid the NBA for his services. That’s exactly what happened: Yessoufou withdrew from the NBA and transferred to St. John’s at the college withdrawal deadline this week, and he reportedly got a huge sum of money to do it.
Yessoufou will reportedly make “upwards of $7 million” playing for St. John’s next season, according to reporter Aaron Heisen. It’s a shocking figure, but that’s what talent goes for in today’s era of college hoops.
The Florida Gators reportedly paid Thomas Haugh at least $8 million to bypass the 2026 NBA Draft for a return to college. Haugh was a projected lottery pick, while Yessoufou was likely going in the late 20s or even the early second-round if he kept his name in. This deal immediately makes him one of the highest paid players in college basketball history.
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St. John’s needed a gritty defender with scoring punch to round out its lineup, and Yessoufou is a perfect fit. He’s built more like a linebacker than a basketball player with a hulking frame that has drawn comparisons to Oklahoma City Thunder wing Lu Dort in the past. Yessoufou still averaged nearly 18 points per game as a freshman even with obvious holes in his skill set mostly because he finished well at the rim (68.5 percent), showed off a nice mid-range game, and attacked the offensive glass. His floor spacing is a question mark with a 29 percent stroke from three-point range, but if he shows any improvement there, he’s probably a first-round pick in a weaker 2027 NBA Draft.
Yessoufou isn’t much a ball handler or passer, but St. John’s has other players to handle those duties. Point guard Quinn Ellis comes over from Olimpia Milano, where he was one of the better young guards in EuroLeague. Ellis’ transition to college basketball will be fascinating as a 22-year-old, and it’s possible he’s one of the better guards in the sport. Ian Jackson is also returning to the Red Storm next season, and like Yessoufou, he was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school.
Add in Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman to the front court, and St. John’s has playmaking, shooting, and perimeter defense in its projected lineup.
The center spot will be the question mark for the Johnnies, but they have plenty of bodies to soak up minutes there. Ruben Prey has always intrigued me as a 6’11 stretch big man out of Spain, and he could be in for a big leap as a junior.
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The money running through college basketball is mind-blowing right now. The Johnnies came up with the cash, and they landed one of the best available players in the country over the NBA.
