Saint John’s Scores 4-Star Recruit, Shamorie Ponds

Shamorie Ponds (Getty Images)

St. John’s basketball coach, Chris Mullin, has definitely been living up to his high expectations of both himself and the public. After saying how important it is that St. John’s dominates New York last April and how good players in New York City need to come to the Red Storm, Mullin has been making that happen.

Shamorie Ponds, a 6-foot, four-star top-50 Class of 2016 prospect, who happens to be from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, verbally committed to St. John’s during a press conference Tuesday afternoon, September 29. Ponds has become the first top local player to join Coach Mullin at St. John’s, picking the Red Storm over both Creighton and Providence.

Ponds is the best local player to pick St. John’s since Maurice Harkless committed in August 2011 under former Johnnies coach Steve Lavin. According to 247Sports, Ponds is the eighth-ranked combo guard in the 2016 class and the third-ranked combo guard in the state of New York. At St. John’s, Ponds is most likely to begin by coming off the bench, behind current freshman guards Federico Mussini and Marcus LoVett Jr.

Shamorie Ponds is the first commit in St. John’s 2016 class and the team is still targeting Rawle Alkins, a five-star Brooklyn native (No. 15 in the ESPN 100), junior college prospect Bashir Ahmed of the Bronx, and Richard Freudenberg, a German native.