A look at who St. John’s has offered on the high school circuit so far this summer, including blue chips like Kayden Mingo and Jalen Montonati
The conventional wisdom in modern college basketball is to build your roster through the transfer portal. Rick Pitino adopted this credo, constructing a win-now roster led by super seniors for a second straight season in hopes of leading St. John’s to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019 and their first tournament win since 2000.
While high school recruiting has taken a back seat in the construction of this year’s roster, Pitino and his staff are still competing with other schools for highly-touted prospects that can help them in the future.
St. John’s offered several top-150 recruits since this summer’s contact period opened on June 15, casting a wide net extending to places like Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Washington state. Here are the recruits that began to appear on their radar this summer.
Kayden Mingo
2025 6-foot-2 combo guard from Glen Head, NY, playing for Long Island Lutheran (NY)
★★★★☆ (62nd nationally at On3, 44th at 247Sports, 45th at ESPN, 45th at rivals.com)
Kayden Mingo is the latest high-profile recruit from local prep powerhouse Long Island Lutheran. He comes from a family of Division-I athletes and his younger brother Dylan is one of the top recruits of the 2026 class.
Mingo has already made a name for himself on the AAU circuit for PSA Cardinals. In the Nike EYBL circuit that featured many four-star and five-star recruits, Mingo averaged 20.5 points, 3.1 assists, and 2.8 steals and won the Defensive MVP award.
On July 1, Mingo was officially offered by St. John’s, but they have some ground to make up if they want to land the star guard. Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy considers Penn State the early favorite for Mingo’s recruitment, as they are also the only team to have scheduled an official visit for the guard. Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Xavier, Wake Forest, and NC State are also interested in the top-50 guard.
London Jemison
2025 6-foot-7 power forward from West Hartford, CT, playing for St. Thomas More (CT)
★★★★☆ (47nd nationally at On3, 39th at 247Sports, 49th at ESPN, 53rd at rivals.com)
There is no shortage of interest in consensus four-star recruit London Jemison. St. John’s offered him on June 19, but they will have their work cut out if they want to convince him to come to Queens.
So far, Jemison holds offers from schools like Syracuse, Notre Dame, Alabama, Kansas, Louisville, Washington, Georgetown, Xavier, Villanova, and Providence. Jemison has already taken visits with Syracuse and Providence and scheduled future trips to Alabama, Louisville, and Notre Dame.
Jemison performed well in the AAU circuit, averaging 14.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in the Nike EYBL circuit for Expressions Elite.
247Sports recruiting analyst Eric Bossi named him one of the standout performers in the NBPA Top 100 camp, describing him as a forward with “inside-out ability” who can cause a “lot of matchup problems.”
Legend Smiley
2025 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Seattle, WA, playing for Southern California Academy (CA)
★★★☆☆ (rated as three-star at On3, 131st at 247Sports, 89th at ESPN)
A three-star guard with a five-star name, Smiley is the top high school prospect in the state of Washington in the class of 2025. Smiley’s recruitment gravitates around the Northwest, as he holds offers from Washington, Utah, UNLV, Utah State, and Montana, but St. John’s is now the only program east of the Rocky Mountains to offer Smiley.
Smiley finished an impressive run at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam circuit, averaging 22.4 points per game in the premier AAU event. His best performance is worth smiling about, as he scored 35 points (10-16 FG, 2-7 3P) in a 98-92 win against Team Durant, a squad featuring consensus four-stars Cameron Ward and Acaden Lewis.
As a junior, Smiley won the 2023-24 Seattle All-Metro MVP award after a stellar season at Garfield High School, averaging 23.5 points per game. This summer, he is leaving Garfield to play at prep school Southern California Basketball Academy.
Shane Cherry
2025 5-foot-10 point guard from Knoxville, TN, playing for Academy of Central Florida (FL)
★★★☆☆ (rated as three-star at ESPN)
Shane Cherry is the second-highest ranked recruit out of the state of Tennessee in the class of 2025. Unsurprisingly, Tennessee is heavily involved in the Knoxville native’s recruitment. Cherry also holds offers from Auburn, Penn State, California, Tennessee State, and now St. John’s.
Last year at Knoxville’s Austin-East high school, Cherry was a Class 2A Tennessee Mr. Basketball finalist, averaging 27.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 3.1 steals per game as a junior while posting a 23-12 record. This fall, he will play at prep school Academy of Central Florida in Orlando. His highlights might remind you of a certain beloved Red Storm guard from recent years.
Jalen Montonati
2026 6-foot-7 small forward from Owasso, OK, playing for Owasso (OK)
★★★★☆ (26th nationally at On3, 20th at 247Sports, 17th at ESPN, 14th at rivals.com )
In the junior class, there might not be a player to skyrocket up recruiting databases like the sharpshooter from the Sooner State, Jalen Montonati. Every major recruiting database lists him as a top-30 recruit in the class of 2026, and he has already received offers from Kansas, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Indiana among others. Last month, St. John’s offered Montonati.
His father, Brian, played college basketball at Oklahoma State for three seasons from 1997 to 2000, averaging 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Cowboys. In his senior season, he averaged 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds as the Cowboys finished 27-7 and reached the Elite Eight.
Jalen Montonati is coming off an extraordinary sophomore season, winning the 2023-24 Gatorade Oklahoma Boys Basketball Player of the Year award and leading Owasso High School to its first-ever state championship. Montonati averaged 23.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.0 blocks last season for Owasso.
Montonati already has experience on the international stage. He was named to the United States U16 men’s national team last year, leading the team in made threes and winning gold in the 2023 FIBA Men’s U16 Americas Championship. This year, Montonati was named a finalist for the United States’ U17 national team.
Imahri Wooten
2026 6-foot-4 combo guard from Troy, NY, playing for Putnam Science Academy (CT)
★★★★☆ (113th nationally at On3, 88th at 247Sports, 54th at rivals.com)
Four-star guard Imahri Wooten is receiving plenty of interest from Northeast schools, carrying offers from Syracuse, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, and Penn State, and has received contact from at least two dozen schools. St. John’s recently offered the Troy, NY native on June 15.
After playing at Arizona’s Compass Prep last year, Wooten will play at Putnam Science Academy starting his junior year, which produced talents such as Hamidou Diallo, Akok Akok, Tyson Etienne, Vladislav Goldin, and Bensley Joseph.
He also plays for Albany-based AAU team City Rocks on the Nike EYBL circuit. Wooten enjoyed a standout performance at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam circuit, scoring 18 points (6-11 FG, 4-7 3P) in a win over Strive for Greatness. ESPN recruiting director Paul Biancardi listed Wooten as one of his standout performers at Peach Jam on July 14.
Cody Peck
2026 6-foot-9 power forward from Matthews, NC, playing for Carmel Christian (NC)
★★★☆☆ (68th nationally at On3, 104th at rivals.com)
Another rising prospect St. John’s has offered is North Carolina native Cody Peck. He also holds offers from Wake Forest, N.C. State, Dayton, Georgetown, and SMU, among others.
Peck hasn’t received a ranking from 247Sports or ESPN, but he’s now ranked as high as 68th in On3’s rankings. On3’s Jamie Shaw explained why Shaw has rocketed up their database last March.
“The second you see Cody Peck in warm-up lines you take notice,” Shaw writes. “Every bit of 6-foot-10, he has a projectable frame with long arms, wide-set shoulders, and a basketball player’s build. When he starts to run around the court, doing defensive slides or getting on the rim in layup lines you see a unique athletic fluidity… not seen by players that are his size.”