Darien Williams to St. John's

[Steve Lavin]

Like Tariq Owens, Williams was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school and continued to be rated a 3-star as a JUCO. Neither of these are block Buster recruits for St. John's, but they certainly due create a sense of momentum for Mullin. High school kids considering the Red Storm are now seeing a lot of the question marks removed as Obekpa and Jordan announce that they are coming back while Williams and Owens lend some more veteran presence to the program. These are good moves, hopefully to be followed by a true blockbuster like Diallo.

One further point. Williams is from California. I have to think that having someone with the stature of Mullin and with his NBA credentials had to be a factor in Williams' decision. Anyone doubting his pull outside the Northeast just has to look at this recruiting "get".

Williams was a 4 star on another site. If you don't think this can be a great player you are nuts. He runs the floor, rebounds, shoots well, tall, long, draws fouls, and can score inside. Basically a do it all player.

[ChestRockwell85]

Mullin is wasting no time and picking up some very good players but sometimes when you throw around a bunch of offers you miss out on the big fish because the 3 star guys commit before the 4 or 5 star guys and fill up the barn before the 4/5 star guy can commit.

Don't get me wrong. Mullin is proving players want to play for him but he was hired like a week ago. I think he has more time to see where the big fish will end up before starting to take commits like this one.

I think a key part of it is the fact that he's coming in to a depleted roster. Look at the St John's/ SDSU tourney game. The 4 departed seniors played 39 minutes- all 4 of them.

Hoyas, I think you hit the nail on the head. Mullin has a lot of scholarships to work with.

[Jet915]

Like Tariq Owens, Williams was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school and continued to be rated a 3-star as a JUCO. Neither of these are block Buster recruits for St. John's, but they certainly due create a sense of momentum for Mullin. High school kids considering the Red Storm are now seeing a lot of the question marks removed as Obekpa and Jordan announce that they are coming back while Williams and Owens lend some more veteran presence to the program. These are good moves, hopefully to be followed by a true blockbuster like Diallo.

One further point. Williams is from California. I have to think that having someone with the stature of Mullin and with his NBA credentials had to be a factor in Williams' decision. Anyone doubting his pull outside the Northeast just has to look at this recruiting "get".

Actually, for Williams, according to the 247 composite, he's a 4 star recruit.

[NJRedman]

Mullin is wasting no time and picking up some very good players but sometimes when you throw around a bunch of offers you miss out on the big fish because the 3 star guys commit before the 4 or 5 star guys and fill up the barn before the 4/5 star guy can commit.

Don't get me wrong. Mullin is proving players want to play for him but he was hired like a week ago. I think he has more time to see where the big fish will end up before starting to take commits like this one.

About half the offers he made were to HS Jr's and Sophs.

[Rum_Ham]

This guy is a top 5 Juco recruit (according to 247) with 3 years of eligibility left. He may not be a 5 star guy but he will have an immediate impact and is a great pickup for St Johns. Mullin still has his sights on the "big fish" recruits in Diallo and Sampson he has meetings with both set up

[DudeAnon]

1) y'all been hanging out with Stever too much.
2) Mullin aint doing this, these are his assistants. But that shows even more to me, he is smart enough to let his assistants do their job.
3) Thank God they got rid of Lavin

[Bill Marsh]

Like Tariq Owens, Williams was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school and continued to be rated a 3-star as a JUCO. Neither of these are block Buster recruits for St. John's, but they certainly due create a sense of momentum for Mullin. High school kids considering the Red Storm are now seeing a lot of the question marks removed as Obekpa and Jordan announce that they are coming back while Williams and Owens lend some more veteran presence to the program. These are good moves, hopefully to be followed by a true blockbuster like Diallo.

One further point. Williams is from California. I have to think that having someone with the stature of Mullin and with his NBA credentials had to be a factor in Williams' decision. Anyone doubting his pull outside the Northeast just has to look at this recruiting "get".

Actually, for Williams, according to the 247 composite, he's a 4 star recruit.

Okay. I was going by Rivals. Let's call him a 3/4 star. Still not a sure thing although a 3/4 star should be a good ballplayer and a solid contributor before he's through.

[Bill Marsh]

This guy is a top 5 Juco recruit (according to 247) with 3 years of eligibility left. He may not be a 5 star guy but he will have an immediate impact and is a great pickup for St Johns. Mullin still has his sights on the "big fish" recruits in Diallo and Sampson he has meetings with both set up

Now we're calling top 5 JUCO's "immediate impact" players in this day and age? I can think of quite a few who weren't. There's a reason why they're JUCO in the first place and it's not just academics any more.

[DudeAnon]

This guy is a top 5 Juco recruit (according to 247) with 3 years of eligibility left. He may not be a 5 star guy but he will have an immediate impact and is a great pickup for St Johns. Mullin still has his sights on the "big fish" recruits in Diallo and Sampson he has meetings with both set up

Now we're calling top 5 JUCO's "immediate impact" players in this day and age? I can think of quite a few who weren't. There's a reason why they're JUCO in the first place and it's not just academics any more.

Iowa St. was pretty hyped about him, why shouldn't SJU?

[Steve Lavin]

Um…does anyone forget the McDermott led Creighton team was all 3 stars? So is most of Gonzaga. We've seen the 4-5 star top 50 players and we were constantly burned by 3 star players. The benefit of 3 stars is that they usually stay all of their years and progressively get better, keeping your program winning consistently with balanced rosters. Unless you are UK, Arizona, Duke, etc. the 1 and done route doesn't really work. I want Diallo bad, but I don't care if we don't get him. He is just looking to leave immediately. I want committed kids who stay and get better each year.