St. John’s Basketball Wing Correctly Ranked as Top Impact Transfer

The St. John's Red Storm have a very talented guard who can make an impact

Mar 27, 2026; Washington, DC, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts in the first half during a Sweet Sixteen game of the East Regional of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. John’s Red Storm have done a wonderful job of restocking talent on the roster via the transfer portal since Rick Pitino took over as head coach.

Given his stance on how a roster should be built in today’s day and age, it comes as no surprise that Pitino leans heavily on acquiring established collegiate talent. He doesn’t believe you can consistently win at a high level relying on unproven freshmen, so he prefers mixing them in to develop with an established core.

Certainly a risky strategy, but it looks good when it works out as consistently as it has for the Red Storm. They are consistently near the top of the transfer portal rankings, and that is no different this cycle.

St. John’s came away with the No. 1-ranked transfer class in the country per 247Sports, headlined by five-star wing Tounde Yessoufou. After playing his freshman year with the Baylor Bears, he decided to test the NBA draft waters.

Tounde Yessoufou among most impactful newcomers

Feb 24, 2026; Waco, Texas, USA; Baylor Bears guard Tounde Yessoufou (24) scores a basket against Arizona Wildcats forward Tobe Awaka (30) during the first half at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

He waited right up until the deadline but decided to withdraw after not receiving the kind of feedback he was hoping for. Monetarily, it made a lot of sense. The Red Storm reportedly ponied up a massive NIL package for him, approaching $6 million, to return to the collegiate level.

St. John’s is getting a dynamic player who is a walking bucket and highly regarded amongst transfer players. In a list created by Jeff Borzello and Paul Biancardi of ESPN, he is No. 10 out of 51 impact newcomers and 16 newcomer transfers. They had three players overall on the list, including Keyshawn Hall and Quinn Ellis.

Yessoufou averaged 17.8 points per game last season, which was second on Baylor behind the 18.9 points that Cameron Carr averaged. Despite being listed at 6-foot-4, he was the second-leading rebounder on the team, grabbing 5.9 per game; only Caden Powell, who averaged 6.3.

Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou was one of the latest and most shocking transfers in this portal cycle

The 6-foot-5 guard instantly makes St. John’s a title contender. He averaged 17.8 PTS, 5.8 REB, and 1.6 AST on 46.5% shooting in his freshman season at Baylor

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— College Basketball News (@cbkportal) July 25, 2026

What is going to help Yessoufou elevate his performance to another level is if he can improve his shooting. It is likely that some of the feedback he got from NBA teams during the pre-draft process led to him withdrawing.

He made only 29.3% of his 3-point attempts, but his 74.6% from the foul line provides some optimism for his shooting ability. He made 56.7% of his 2-point attempts, and that number would increase if defenses had to respect his shooting ability from long range more.

Defensively, Yessoufou has all of the tools to be an impactful player on that end. Learning under Pitino, one of the greatest defensive schemers in basketball history, will certainly help raise his performance, which will improve his stock for the NBA.