It has been quite some time since St. John’s was in the running for a top high school prospect this early in a recruiting cycle, but that has now changed.
The Johnnies were named in class of 2026 recruit Adam Oumiddoch’s final five schools he is considering last week, according to multiple reports. Other schools in the running are Big East rival Villanova, Illinois, LSU, and Oregon. The native of Arlington, Virginia is ranked as a top-50 recruit across all three major recruiting databases (Rivals,
247Sports, ESPN).
Oumiddoch is set to take an official visit with St. John’s from October 24 to 26, the same weekend the Red Storm will host Michigan in a pre-season exhibition at Madison Square Garden.
Listed as a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, Oumiddoch has spent the last three years playing at Overtime Elite, the semi-professional league based out of Atlanta, Georgia, consisting of plenty of elite high school-aged players. Over the past few years, players such as the Thompson twins, Amen and Ausar, Rob Dillingham, and current St. John’s guard Ian Jackson have competed in the league.
Playing for Cold Hearts last season, Oumiddoch averaged 17.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.4 steals in 26.1 minutes per game, shooting 41.4% from the field and 31.1% from three. He was much more efficient in this summer’s Adidas AAU Circuit, again scoring 17 points per game, but making 49% from the field and 38% from three.
247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein gave his assessment of Oumiddoch’s play this July.
“Oumiddoch is a skilled volume scorer. He has good positional size, but lacks ideal strength or athleticism, and compensates by being ultra-crafty,” Finkelstein writes, “He has great hands and naturally soft touch, so while his mechanics are unorthodox, he’s historically been a shot-maker. He’s a confident handler, but lacks a super explosive first-step, so he can over-dribble at times in search or chances to utilize his cleverness. He also has an assortment of lay-ups at his disposal.”
The Red Storm’s recruitment of Oumiddoch comes as a bit of a surprise given head coach Rick Pitino’s intent on constructing the Red Storm almost exclusively through the transfer portal. The only four players Pitino signed out of high school in his first two seasons in Queens — Brady Dunlap, Simeon Wilcher, Jaiden Glover, and Khaman Maker — have all transferred elsewhere since. Perhaps current freshman guard Kelvin Odih and Oumiddoch, if he commits, can buck that trend.
