College Basketball Sleeper Pick: Red Storm Brewing

College Basketball Sleeper Pick: St. John's National Title (+10000, BetRivers)

The Big East was arguably one of the top conferences in all of college basketball last season with five teams making the NCAA tournament and UConn taking home the national championship. However, St. John's was not one of those five teams after finishing the regular season 18-15 overall and 7-13 in conference play. After the season, they fired their head coach Mike Anderson and hired Iona head coach Rick Pitino. The Hall of Fame coach wasted no time overhauling this roster and making it his own.

While the Red Storm sit in the middle of the pack on next year’s championship odds board at 100-1 on BetRivers, Pitino’s squad has a ton of potential. Let's take a look at a few reasons why I like St. John's to outperform expectations this season, and how you can capitalize on the best values.

Within 56 days of being hired at St. John's, Pitino brought in 12 new players, keeping just two from the 2022-23 roster. Of those new players, 10 came from the transfer portal, including a few he brought over from Iona, and two incoming freshmen. Senior forward Joel Soriano and junior forward Drissa Traore are the only two Red Storm players Pitino retained. He also only retained one assistant coach, Van Macon, and brought over the rest of his Iona staff. 

For all intents and purposes, this program was constructed from scratch, which means no one really knows how it’s going to perform on the court. What we do know is that it’s packed with talent and a Hall of Fame coach. Of the new additions, here are a few that stand out to me.

Simeon Wilcher: a highly-touted combo guard and a top-30 prospect in the class of 2023. According to his player bio, Wilcher is the highest-rated incoming freshman the program has had in the last decade. 

Nahiem Alleyne: transferred to St. John’s after winning a national championship at UConn last season. He wasn’t a huge contributor for the Huskies in terms of scoring, but certainly brings championship experience to the mix. 

Quinn Slazinski: transferred from Iona where he played under Pitino last season. Slazinski only played in seven games before suffering a season-ending injury, but was effective in the short time he was on the court. 

On paper, Pitino’s roster has everything a championship team needs: an electric guard, a dominant frontcourt, shooting and veteran leadership. It also has one of the best X’s and O’s coaches in all of college basketball. St. John’s has the potential to be a very good team this season, which is why I’d suggest taking them to win the title at +10000. Once the season starts and the Red Storm start winning, those odds will take a major dip. 

In addition to sprinkling a little on St. John's national title odds, these futures plays on St. John's are also worth a play:

Odds to make Final Four: +2000, FanDuel
Odds to win Big East: +550, Caesars