Rick Pitino, St. John's get good news on eligibility of Keyshawn Hall, Quinn Ellis
Clockwise from left: St. John's head coach Rick Pitino and new players Quinn Ellis and Keyshawn Hall. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke; St. John's Athletics.
St. John’s wasn’t on the court, but it had an excellent 15 minutes on Tuesday afternoon.
Auburn transfer Keyshawn Hall’s hearing at the New York Supreme Court in Queens concluded with the Honorable Joseph Risi ruling against the NCAA in its effort to lift the temporary restraining order that’s made him eligible to play for the Red Storm in his fifth college season. Then, as he was exiting the courtroom, Storm coach Rick Pitino was informed that point guard Quinn Ellis, who played professionally in the Euro League, had finally been declared eligible by the NCAA.
St. John’s envisions the two 23-year-olds playing major roles for a team Pitino has called his “deepest, most-talented” in his four seasons at St. John’s.
The two events mean that St. John’s will have a full roster of eligible players, at least for the foreseeable future. The Red Storm will have everyone available on Wednesday night for its 6 p.m. exhibition game against Drexel at Carnesecca Arena.
The 6-4 Ellis is now one of the top international players in college basketball. The NCAA must clear those who played professionally overseas in a process called “reinstatement” and the Red Storm have been awaiting a decision on Ellis’ application.
“We felt confident,” Pitino said of waiting for the Ellis decision. “It’s great. It’s a relief for him and a relief for us.”
Asked if Ellis was the one player the Storm could not do without, Pitino replied, “Yes.”
“He’s lightning fast, he’s a great athlete and he’s a great basketball player,” Pitino said. “He makes plays for people. He is somebody that can go down the line and find somebody open you don’t readily see. He sees the court as well as anybody I’ve coached.”
Ellis, 6-4 returning junior Ian Jackson and 6-5 Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou make for a powerhouse trio of guards. Jackson and Yessoufou, who was expected to be picked late in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft before withdrawing to join the Storm, were both preseason all-Big East first team selections in a vote by conference coaches.
Hall averaged 19.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season at Auburn.
He is one of hundreds of players who have sued the NCAA for not including players from the class of 2022 when they instituted new eligibility rules that allow five seasons of competition in five years. He received the temporary restraining order last week. Risi will hand down a final decision on Hall’s suit for judicial relief, but the timeline is unknown and the unsuccessful party could appeal.
Hall’s attorney, Brian Shoot, said that ruling “could be tomorrow [or] could be two months from now.”
Similar to Hall, Indiana transfer Reed Bailey and Babacar Sane are eligible for now, pursuant to court orders.
Bailey is one of dozens of players seeking a fifth year of eligibility in a lawsuit against the NCAA in California that will be continued on Oct. 20. Sane, who signed an Exhibition 10 deal with the Utah Jazz and played professionally in the G League, was in a New York court last week where he was declared eligible until at least Nov. 9 when there will be testimony in his case against the NCAA.
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.
