Joson Sanon, Kelvin Odih latest St. John's basketball players to enter transfer portal
St. John's Red Storm guard Joson Sanon dribbles the ball up court against the Creighton Bluejays in the second half of a Big East men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 21. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Things can change quickly for college basketball programs and players at this time of year, and that is the case with St. John’s Joson Sanon. A little more than a month ago, returning to St. John's was a virtual certainty for the 6-5 sophomore wing. On Wednesday morning, he decided to transfer, according to a source.
Sanon, who submitted his name to the NCAA transfer portal, became the fifth player from the 2025-26 squad that won 30 games, repeated as Big East regular season and tournament champions and reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 to leave the program.
On Wednesday afternoon, freshman guard Kelvin Odih put his name in the transfer portal and became the sixth, the source confirmed.
They join Dylan Darling, Sadiku Ibine Ayo, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Imran Suljanovic.
This St. John’s offseason is beginning to look a lot like coach Rick Pitino’s first with the team. He retained only two players from former coach Mike Anderson’s 2022-23 team and had to build a completely new roster.
After the two Wednesday transfers, the Red Storm roster was left with only five players: the four returners — Ruben Prey, Ian Jackson, Casper Pohto and Fotis Konstantinidis — plus the commitment the Storm received Tuesday from top recruiting target Quinn Ellis, a 6-5 British point guard who has been playing in the EuroLeague.
Sanon was praised by Pitino all season as being the most gifted player on the roster with the highest ceiling. He averaged 7.9 points in 20.9 minutes. In the first week of March, the Hall of Fame coach was asked about the prospect of Sanon coming back for his junior season and replied, “I envision him 100% being back with us next season.”
After scoring 15 points in St. John’s Big East Tournament semifinal win over Seton Hall on March 13, Sanon was asked about what he envisioned for himself with another season playing for Pitino and replied, “I feel like I [could] go in the first round [of the 2027 NBA Draft].”
He explained that the reason he wanted to return was “the rep coach has and the confidence he has in me.”
Odih also was envisioned to be returning as recently as Tuesday, the source said. Pitino and his coaches had been outspoken about how he practiced with high energy and brought a desirable aggressiveness to his game.
Odih played in 10 games this season and averaged 1.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 5.3 minutes. He suffered a leg injury in a Feb. 20 practice and was unavailable for the remainder of the season.
St. John’s was scheduled to have 6-8 forward DeSean Goode of Robert Morris in for a visit on Wednesday. Pitino and his staff hosted four players the previous two days: 6-7 swingman Abdi Bashir Jr. from Kansas State, 6-7 forward Mouhamed Dioubate from Kentucky, 7-2 center Moustapha Thiam from Cincinnati and 6-1 point guard Leroy Blyden Jr. of Toledo.
Other visits in the works are for 7-1 Massamba Diop of Arizona State and 6-8 Kendyl Sanders of Utah. There had been plans for a visit by 6-10 Najai Hines of Seton Hall, but he reportedly committed to UConn on Wednesday night.
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.
