St. John's Basketball Receives Fair Ranking in AP Top 25 Poll

Where did the St. John's Red Storm come in ranked in the AP Top 25?

Oct 1, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino is interviewed at 2026 Big East Media Day at Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the start of the college basketball season right around the corner for the St. John’s Red Storm, the team now knows where they will be ranked to start the campaign in the AP Poll. 

As the first game of the season gets closer for St. John’s, this is a team that has had no shortage of news leading into the season. The Red Storm, like many of the other teams in the country, have been waiting to see what happens with the eligibility of a few key players. 

This situation has become a bit of a mess for the NCAA, but as of now, St. John’s has some key players that are able to play. With practice time for some of these guys and the team being limited, the exhibition games that they have been playing have been important. 

Head coach Rick Pitino might not be thrilled with everything that he has seen, but the group is at the very least out there together. While their first exhibition game was an easy one against Drexel, the Red Storm were tested at MSG against Rutgers. 

It took an astonishing four overtimes to decide a winner in this one, but it was ultimately St. John’s who came out on top. There will certainly be a lot of tape to watch from that game, and Pitino will surely be working on fixing some things. 

The Red Storm will have one more exhibition game on Sunday at MSG against the Texas Longhorns before the regular season gets underway. For St. John’s, they also have recently found out where they will be ranked in the AP Poll to kick things off. 

Fair Rating for Red Storm

Lucky No. 13 to start the season 🔥#RedStorm pic.twitter.com/iCtGkPpoIt

— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) October 19, 2026

With St. John’s coming in ranked 13th, that feels like a fair spot for a team that will still have some eligibility concerns about a couple of key players over the next few weeks. 

However, when this team is full, the talent level is impressive. In the two exhibition games, both Keyshawn Hall and Tounde Yessoufou have come off the bench, highlighting just how good this roster is. 

As of now, everyone is going to be chasing the Florida Gators, who came in ranked No. 1. However, for the Red Storm, they will have their eyes on the UCONN Huskies, who are ranked 4th going into the season. 

These two teams seemed destined for another battle in the Big East, and this St. John’s roster is going to be capable of making it a third straight conference title.