Adam Oumiddoch commits to St. John's as part of 2026 recruiting class
Adam Oumiddoch, a St. John's commit for the 2026 recruiting class. Credit: St. John's Athletics
St. John’s landed the first member of its 2026 recruiting class on Tuesday when Adam Oumiddoch of Overtime Elite committed to the Red Storm. The 6-5 shooting guard opted for coach Rick Pitino and the Storm over Villanova as well as his other three announced finalists: Oregon, Illinois and LSU.
“We are super excited to have Adam join our basketball program,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said in a statement from the school. “Adam is everything we want in a young prospect, and he is driven to do anything he can to improve. We believe he can really excel in our style of play.”
Oumiddoch is from Virginia and began playing high school basketball at Arlington County (Va.) Bishop O’Connell before switching to Overtime Elite. He visited St. John’s last month.
Pitino hinted last Friday that he was anticipating a high school commitment in the near future when he said, in discussing the recruiting of freshmen along with transfers, “We'll take probably two or three this year. We have one that's going to be probably around the corner in next 36 hours.”
According to Overtime Elite statistics, Oumiddoch is averaging 31.0 points in three games this season, a major uptick from the 17.1 he averaged last season. He is considered an elite offensive talent who can score on all three levels.
A large portion of the freshmen that Pitino has recruited to St. John’s have been Europeans, though it hasn’t been exclusively. When Simeon Wilcher committed, it was the highest-profile American high schooler the program had landed in more than a decade. Wilcher transferred to Texas for this season.
However, the majority of players St. John’s has brought in since Pitino took over in March 2023 have been experienced college players from the NCAA transfer portal, which he considers the straightest line to high-level success.
“We recruit freshmen, it's just that we have to have older players,” Pitino said.
The Red Storm had the top-ranked transfer class of the past offseason, according to 247sports.com, but also brought in four freshmen: American Kelvin Odih and Europeans Imran Suljanovic, Casper Pohto and Fotis Konstantinidis.
Sophomore Ruben Prey of Portugal has developed into a key part of the Red Storm’s rotation this season. Another European sophomore, Greek guard Lefteris Liotopoulos, has made major strides in his year with St. John’s, and there have been signs he could be a reliable role player this season.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
