St. John's eyeing five-star recruits Thon Maker and Terrance Ferguson

While St. John's remains in pursuit of Word of God Academy small forward Rawle Alkins, Chris Mullin and company continue to branch out to try to land some of the biggest fish in the class of 2016.

According to SNY, associate head coach Barry 'Slice' Rohrssen visited five-star center Thon Maker in Canada and watched Terrance Ferguson in Dallas earlier this week. The Johnnies have one scholarship remaining for next season's recruiting class, but they are certainly capable of making room if they can add a couple of difference makers.

Maker, a 7'0" from Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, has offers from numerous high major schools and is considering St. John's, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Indiana and UNLV. The Athletic Institute Basketball Academy prospect was originally planning to attend the Johnnies match-up versus Providence on Saturday, but him and his guardian unable to make it. Maker took an unofficial visit to St. John's in late January and should be deciding on his college destination relatively soon.

Maker is a long, athletic, skilled player with the ability to run the floor (which is a huge plus in Mullin's up-tempo system), finish around the rim and make shots from the perimeter. The center blocks shots around the bucket but similar to Kassoum Yakwe, Yankuba Sima and Tariq Owens, Maker must build strength to maximize his potential at the collegiate level.

A 6'5" shooter from Dallas, Texas, Ferguson is 13th in ESPN's top 100 recruiting rankings for the class of 2016 and is the second best player in his state and the fourth best shooting guard in the country. The Advanced Prep International product de-committed from Alabama this week after losing his grandmother. He had offers from Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Kansas, Louisville, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and others, but Alabama remains in the mix.

It sounds like the Johnnies believe they have a legitimate shot to land the Texas native.

Was told St. John's working on getting five-star wing Terrence Ferguson in for a visit. Barry Rohrssen saw him yesterday. #sjubb

— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) March 3, 2016

This past summer, Ferguson played on the United States U19 team that won the gold medal in Crete. He averaged 6.1 points per game, 1.6 rebounds and one assist in the event while showing off his shooting touch from the arc, his capabilities on the defensive end of the floor and his unique, solid explosiveness. Ferguson can also leap out of the gym.