Report: St. John's adds former 5-star recruit Mitchell from Cincinnati

Ex-Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell is the third former five-star recruit to transfer to St. John's this offseason, The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman reported Wednesday.

Mitchell was the fourth-ranked recruit in the ESPN 100 in 2022. He played two seasons at Texas before heading to Cincinnati for his junior campaign. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 9.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in his lone season with the Bearcats.

Mitchell will team up with former five-star prospects Ian Jackson and Joson Sanon, who transferred from North Carolina and Arizona State, respectively. St John's head coach Rick Pitino also landed former Providence standout Bryce Hopkins and former Stanford sharpshooter Oziyah Sellers from the portal.

Pitino, 72, has been adamant that he would rather use the transfer portal to build next season's roster with proven college talent instead of recruiting high school players.

"We're not recruiting any high school basketball players, not this year," he said in February, according to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com.

The Red Storm's only commit from outside college basketball is Austrian forward Imran Suljanovic, who played for Italian club Pallacanestro Reggiana in the Lega Basket Serie A last season.

St. John's is losing Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. after he declared for the NBA draft as well as Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith, who have exhausted their eligibility.

St. John's won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles in its second season under Pitino. The program was rewarded with a 2-seed in the NCAA tourney but was eliminated by 10-seed Arkansas in the Round of 32.