Transfer Joson Sanon chooses St. John’s, Rick Pitino

Former Arizona State wing Joson Sanon, one of many prime gamers within the switch portal, has dedicated to St. John’s and coach Rick Pitino, he informed ESPN on Wednesday.

“Coach Pitino believes in me and my potential and what he can do for me,” Sanon informed ESPN. “He preaches working hard, and I want to show him I’m the hardest working player that’s ever played for him. The way Coach P teaches defense is something I want to invest my time into.”

Sanon, a 19-year-old freshman who averaged 11.9 factors in 28.3 minutes per recreation and shot 36.9% from 3 this season, didn’t take visits to any faculties after coming into the switch portal Tuesday. The No. 23-ranked participant within the 2024 highschool class, Sanon watched St. John’s tackle Georgetown at Madison Sq. Backyard in March 2024 earlier than initially committing to Arizona State, his agent, Derek Malloy of LIFT Sports activities Administration, informed ESPN.

Malloy mentioned he inspired Sanon to leap on the alternative to play for a Corridor of Fame coach in Pitino as quickly because it was offered to him.

“New York City, Madison Square Garden, Rick Pitino. If we weren’t the first to take it, I’d envy the person who did,” Malloy mentioned.

St. John’s, a No. 2 seed within the NCAA match because the Massive East regular-season and convention match champions, misplaced 75-66 to John Calipari and No. 10 seed Arkansas within the second spherical. The Purple Storm had been 2-for-22 from past the arc in that recreation, making a dynamic shot maker like Sanon a transparent precedence.

Pitino will lose at the very least three starters from this season’s roster — seniors Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott — who all performed between 27 and 32 minutes per recreation. The standing of juniors RJ Luis Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s prime scorers and most extremely regarded NBA prospects, is but to be decided. The workforce is more likely to lose a number of gamers to the switch portal.

Greater than 1,150 Division I gamers have entered the switch portal because it opened Monday, far exceeding the earlier years’ totals on the identical stage.

Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft professional and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a non-public scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and worldwide groups.