St. John's Dylan Darling enters transfer portal
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino talks with guard Dylan Darling at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s got a grand entrance and a bittersweet exit Tuesday.
The Red Storm landed a commitment from top recruiting target Quinn Ellis, a 6-5 British point guard who has been playing in the EuroLeague. That move prompted point guard Dylan Darling, whose buzzer-beater against Kansas sent St. John’s to its first Sweet 16 since 1999, to put his name into the NCAA transfer portal.
Ellis, 23, chose the Red Storm over Duke and also received serious interest from Louisville, Kentucky and BYU. According to a source close to the program, Ellis has been considered coach Rick Pitino’s top target for more than a month. This past season, he played for Olimpia Milano in Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A and averaged 8.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. He averaged 17.0 points and 7.0 assists for Great Britain in World Cup qualifiers and was the 2025 Italian Cup MVP and Italian Supercup MVP.
“[St. John’s] is getting someone who has experience playing in the second-best pro league in the world and might be better than any of the players in the portal,” the source said.
Darling, who transferred from Idaho State, came on late in the season as the best option for a Storm team that did not have an elite point guard. He was a late-game star in a half-dozen victories. He averaged 6.9 points, 2.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 21.3 minutes.
Last Wednesday, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Mets game at Citi Field and said he had been talking with Pitino about returning for his final year of college eligibility. Aside from another winning season, he said he sought “a good role” with the team.
Darling was reportedly already receiving interest from Washington.
St. John’s has had four potential transfers in to visit the past two days. On Monday it was 6-7 swingman Abdi Bashir Jr. from Kansas State and 6-7 forward and Queens product Mouhamed Dioubate from Kentucky and 7-2 center Moustapha Thiam from Cincinnati and 6-1 point guard Leroy Blyden Jr. of Toledo were there on Tuesday. DeSean Goode, a 6-8 forward from Robert Morris, is scheduled to visit on Wednesday.
Thiam is one of the highly-rated centers in the transfer portal. Two others that St. John’s is expected to host – probably next week – are 7-1 Massamba Diop of Arizona State and 6-10 Najai Hines of Seton Hall.
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.
