There is a lot to like about the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team heading into the 2026-27 season.

On the perimeter, there may not be a team in the country that has as much talent as St. John’s. Quinn Ellis looks like a star at point guard, and Ian Jackson is blossoming into the kind of player analysts expected when he was ranked as a five-star recruit coming out of high school.

Tounde Yessefou, Keyshawn Hall and Babacar Sane are going to overwhelm opponents on the wing with their combination of size and athleticism. Theo Edema already has the body for college basketball despite reclassifying from the Class of 2027, and once he gets his conditioning up to par, he is going to be a force on the interior.

But until then, there is going to be a lot of pressure on Ruben Prey to carry the load up front for the Red Storm. The frontcourt, specifically the center spot, is the biggest weakness for St. John’s currently.

Ruben Prey taking one for the team playing out of position

That isn’t a knock against Prey, who is a talented player and primed for a breakout entering Year 3 with the program. Instead, it is an admission by head coach Rick Pitino, who knows Prey is taking one for the team by playing out of position at center, not his natural spot of power forward.

“You know, in Ruben's defense, he's really a power forward by position, but in order to play minutes, he's got to play the five spot. So it doesn't hurt him offensively because he's got good low post moves. It hurts him defensively because he's only 6-10,” Pitino said to St. John’s Red Storm On SI when commenting on Prey’s performance against a big Texas Longhorns team.

Pitino’s squad is loaded with talent at power forward, which is why Prey has to move up a spot in the lineup. Along with Hall and Sane, the Red Storm also have fifth-year transfer Reed Bailey, who played last season with the Indiana Hoosiers.

Don’t forget Donnie Freeman, a transfer from the Syracuse Orange who suffered an unfortunate Achilles injury and will miss the season. That is a lot of depth at power forward, and there aren’t any established options to play in the middle, with Edema and Lazar Stojakovic being the only centers on the roster and both being freshmen.

Prey is going to handle a massive role at the 5-spot, and it will be imperative that he stays out of foul trouble. It was an issue in the exhibition games against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Texas; he fouled out in 27 minutes against Rutgers and was whistled for four fouls in 20 minutes against the Longhorns with only one rebound.

Rebounding was something Pitino was also focused on in the preseason, and it is going to take a team effort to get the job done on the glass without a traditional big man being in the rotation.