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The first Johnnie appears in SB Nation's ranking of the nation's top-100 college hoops players

By Norman Rose
USA TODAY Sports

Mike Rutherford writes content for controversy, starting a list of the top-100 college basketball players. St. John's is thrust into the debate early...

...since apparently, JaKarr Sampson is... 96 of 100 on SB Nation's Top-100 list of college hoops players.

96. Jakarr Sampson, SO, St. John's

The 2013 Big East Rookie of the Year flirted briefly with taking his game to the NBA, but ultimately chose to play at least one more season for Steve Lavin. He led the Johnnies in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and was second in scoring (14.9 ppg) in 2012-13. With the return of Sampson and leading scorer D'Angelo Harrison as well as the additions of JuCo All-American Orlando Sanchez and top 30 recruit Rysheed Jordan, hopes are high that St. John's can make it back to the big dance for the first time since 2011 and win a game there for the first time since 1999.

Also from the Big East on the list:

92) Brandon Young

91) JayVaughn Pinkston

From Mike's methodology note:

Let me first clarify that for these rankings I did not consider pro potential. The only two factors utilized were past performance and predicted future performance at the college level, with more emphasis placed on the latter.

While I think Sampson should probably be higher, he also has a lot to prove - can he be more efficient? Can he be a better rebounder? The ceiling is higher than last year's performance for Sampson (who needs a slick nickname, don't you think?), and he should outperform this ranking.

Thoughts? And what other St. John's players do you think will make the list?

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