Three keys for St. John's men's basketball for the 2025-26 season

After winning a school record-tying 31 games and also capturing its first Big East Tournament title and first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, this is the most anticipated season for the St. John’s men's basketball program in recent memory.

The Red Storm enter the season ranked No. 5 nationally in the AP poll, their highest debut ever, largely on the strength of returning All-Big East first-teamer Zuby Ejiofor and a group of transfers that 247sports.com ranked the best transfer class in the county.

Here are three keys for the Red Storm to remain in this rare air:

1. Find cohesion fast

St. John’s is playing a very rigorous non-conference schedule before getting to the heart of Big East play, one that includes No. 15 Alabama in less than a week; Baylor, No. 16 Iowa State and a to-be-determined high major in Las Vegas before the end of the month; Ole Miss and No. 9 Kentucky. The Red Storm have four returners and a bunch of players who hadn’t played together before they came to campus. To that end, coach Rick Pitino said he’s leaned more heavily into working on team defense and offensive schemes and less on individual skill development this preseason. “They’re learning each other and they're willing learners, but it's going to take time for them to learn,” he said.  “But it's 10 new guys who can all play.”

2. Get excellent guard play

St. John’s four primary bigs — Ejiofor, Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins, Cincinnati transfer Dillon Mitchell and vastly improved sophomore Ruben Prey — are extremely athletic, tenacious rebounders and a tough matchup for anyone. The guards need to be equally good, but things are less clearly defined. At one point, North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson was going to play the point, then Pitino said the team didn’t need a point guard, then he anointed Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers the starting point guard. Bringing in great outside shooters in Jackson, Sellers and Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon addressed St. John’s biggest weakness from last season, and Jackson and Sellers may prove to be capable point guards. But there is insurance in prototype point guard Dylan Darling, who was the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year last season at Idaho State and looked capable in exhibition games of playing the game at a high-major level.

3. Tap the depth and find the right player combinations and a rotation

Pitino has a lot of great options to deploy on this team, but he has to determine  the best combinations to use in the assortment of matchups the Red Storm will face. If they stay healthy, his first six — Ejiofor, Hopkins, Sanon, Sellers, Jackson and Mitchell — are locks. Prey up front and Darling in the backcourt figure to be prominent. But he also has at his disposal returning sophomore and three-point ace Lefteris Liotopoulos, powerful and fearless freshman Kelvin Odih and seasoned Pitino acolyte Sadiku Ibine Ayo. Different matchups and situations may call for different things and, with the tough early schedule, Pitino must figure out how to have St. John’s best combination of the players on the floor for all occasions.

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

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.