St. John’s Basketball Star Appears on Preseason All-Transfer Team

The St. John's Red Storm have one of the best transfer players in the country on their team.

Oct 25, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Tounde Yessoufou (24) drives past Texas Longhorns guard Isaiah Johnson (2) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. John’s Red Storm’s season has officially begun, and it’s worth taking note of the impactful transfers across the entire NCAA.

Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports created a Preseason All-Transfer Team for college basketball. St. John’s Tounde Yessoufou is on this list, as he made the All-Transfer First Team.

Yessoufou is entering his second year of college basketball. He played with the Baylor University Bears his freshman year, averaging 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and two steals per game. He played in 34 contests, starting all of them, posting a 46.5% field goal percentage with a 29.3% shooting percentage from three-point range.

He transferred to the Red Storm and now looks to level up his game, especially with the addition of Quinn Ellis. When it comes to playing on the court, the presence of Ellis will make a positive impact on Yessoufou.

Tound Yessoufou can take game to new heights with St. John's

Nov 2, 2026; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Tounde Yessoufou (24) drives past Monmouth Hawks forward Stefanos Spartalis (10) in the second half at Carnesecca Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As a sophomore, he will look to build on the success he had with Baylor last year and contribute to St. John’s as they look to have another 30+ win season.

In the past two seasons, the Red Storm won Big East regular season championships and the Big East Tournament Championship, making it to the NCAA tournament both years. Yessoufou will look to lead St. John’s to their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Red Storm Head Coach Rick Pitino spoke about Yessoufou, both the positives in his games and the aspects that need improvement.

"He has great upside; he's got a lot of dog in him, he's a scorer," Pitino said. "He's got to get better at rebounding the basketball, which he is a good rebounder statistically, but he's got to get better. He's a good shooter; he's got to become a great shooter. He's a good 1-on-1 player; he's got to become a great 1-on-1 player if he wants to be the lottery pick that he said he did to come here.”

Rick Pitino will push Tounde Yessoufou to greatness

Nov 2, 2026; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino yells out instructions in the first half against the Monmouth Hawks at Carnesecca Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Pitino shared a tidbit of what he shared with Yessoufou, making sure he isn’t satisfied with his abilities and talent.

“I told him the other day, 'You're good in so many areas, but Tounde, as the book read, good is the enemy of great,” Pitino said. “And if you want to reach your potential and truly be a lottery pick, you've got to become great in a lot of areas.'"

Pitino doesn’t want Yessoufou to be satisfied with being a good player, but wants him to take his game to the next level and unlock his fullest potential.

Yessoufou appearing on the All-Transfer First Team shows not only the success he had last year as a freshman, but also what’s to come in his sophomore campaign, his first with St. John’s.