5 questions facing St. John's as it looks ahead to next season

WASHINGTON — A St. John’s season that was successful by virtually every measure ended Friday night with an 80-75 NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinal loss to overall No. 1 seed Duke.

The Red Storm know that — barring some sort of drastic rule change — mainstays Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, Dillon Mitchell and Oziyah Sellers have exhausted their eligibility. The NCAA transfer portal opens in the second week of April.

Here are five questions that face the Red Storm as they head into the so-called offseason (which is really anything but “off”):

1. What happens with Ian Jackson?

After opting to leave North Carolina and come home, Jackson made a bigger splash than any of the other six transfers who arrived at St. John’s before this season. Considering that the 6-5 guard came out of high school as a projected NBA talent, one had to wonder at the time if this would be a one-year stop. There was a curiosity about St. John’s coach Rick Pitino’s plan to convert him from a shooting guard to the starting point guard.

Jackson improved in an assortment of ways but became neither a true point guard nor the full-time starter. He started 19 of 37 games and averaged 9.4 points — fourth-best on the team — with 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 turnovers in 18.3 minutes per game. He started none of the final 10 games and averaged 14.3 minutes in them. Whether Jackson and Pitino see a future for him — and agree on financial terms — will determine if he enters the NCAA transfer portal.

2. What should the 2026-27 schedule look like?

Pitino put together a rigorous schedule this season to prepare the Red Storm for the postseason, but many of the high-profile games occurred before a team with only one returning starter had jelled. Those losses put St. John’s on course to be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite entering Selection Sunday with 19 wins in the previous 20 games and the Big East regular-season and tournament titles.

Right now, the schedule includes at least three games at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas — it could end up five — plus a date with Alabama in Birmingham. The Garden is expanding the Red Storm’s portfolio of games next season. Big-time matchups there are expected, as well as two of the three exhibition games now permitted.

One matter is whether Pitino wants to stick with the blend of six high-majors and five mid-majors in non-conference play. The other is whether to schedule one of those opportunities for a resume-building non-conference win in late January or February when the players have become more accustomed to playing together, as was the case this season. Pitino appears wary of putting a big-time non-conference game in January or February because it means sacrificing one of the two open weekends on the Big East conference schedule.

3. How do you replace Ejiofor?

Ejiofor was much more than just a sensational player who led the team in points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots. The center also was a leader and an example of how hard Pitino expects his players to play. It’s been suggested that St. John’s cannot replace all he contributed with a single player, and doing so is hard to imagine. So how will Pitino and his staff accomplish that?

4. What will the group of returnees look like?

Pitino has said the following over the course of the season: Ruben Prey “deserves to start” next season; Joson Sanon “is 100%” coming back and Dylan Darling could be the next team captain. Lefteris Liotopoulos is beloved by Red Storm fans and his shooting gets praise from the coach, and Sadiku Ibine Ayo has spent his career at Pitino’s side, but will they get the playing time next season that best benefits them?

As far as the freshmen are concerned, the coaches are high on swingman Kelvin Odih, envision point guard Casper Pohto developing and looked forward to having sharpshooter Imran Suljanovic, a 6-7 wing, before he missed the entire season because of knee surgery.

5. Is there a bigger priority than adding elite guards?

Guard play plagued St. John’s all season, right down to Friday’s loss to Duke, when the guard quartet went 4-for-21 on three-point attempts. The Red Storm never really got replacements for Kadary Richmond or Deivon Smith from the 2024-25 team and ended up with forward Dillon Mitchell doing most of the ballhandling.

Guard play always translates to wins and losses, especially in the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s is replacing a lot, but it needs this badly.

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.