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Former SJU guard Rysheed Jordan arrested for attempted murder, robbery

The Philadelphia native stayed with the Red Storm for two seasons.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Former five-star recruit and former St. John's point guard Rysheed Jordan was arrested on charges of attempted murder and robbery (amongst other offenses) in connection with a shooting in North Philadelphia on May 27.

ABC6 in Philadelphia is reporting that Jordan and two other suspects set up a meeting with three men to sell a cellphone. Jordan and the two suspects attempted to rob the victims during the meeting, which resulted in Jordan opening fire and hitting one victim in the arm.

Jordan attempted to escape on foot, but was later captured by police.

This incident caps what has been a remarkable fall for a player that had obvious pro potential.

The 6'3" guard was highly recruited out of Roberts Vaux High School, as he was rated 17th in ESPN's top 100 recruiting rankings for the class of 2013. Jordan finished his senior season with a state title and earned offers from multiple high quality schools after averaging 26 points per game. His college decision came down to St. John's, Temple and UCLA, three schools that all offered valuable playing time from day one.

Jordan opted for the Johnnies over Temple because of the connection he felt with then-head coach Steve Lavin. He also had a desire to leave his hometown of Philadelphia and was fascinated with the opportunity of playing under the bright lights in New York.

"I really like their style of play, pick-and-roll and how Coach [Steve] Lavin lets their guards play," Jordan told ESPN's Jeff Goodman at the time of his commitment. "On my visit I also built a great relationship with Chris Obekpa and Phil Greene (IV). I liked New York City, and Coach Lavin is a great coach, just awesome."

He arrived at St. John's with high expectations, giving the Johnnies a talented core group that consisted of Obekpa, Greene, D'Angelo Harrison, JaKarr Sampson and Sir'Domenic Pointer.

Instead, Jordan created distractions off the court and failed to live up to the hype as the next best guard to step foot on the court in Queens.

Three games into his freshman season, Jordan was suspended for a game against Monmouth due to a violation of team rules. Playing up to par on the court could have made up for the lack of discipline, but instead, Jordan averaged 9.7 points per game, turned the ball over all too often and shot a brutal 28 percent from the field.

With the Philly native expecting to head to the NBA following his sophomore campaign (he posted a cryptic message on Instagram before the season), year two was projected as his break through campaign.

The lead guard increased his scoring average to 14.1 points per game and shot better from beyond the arc, but he still struggled with ball security (3.1 assists per game, 3.0 turnovers per game) and made poor decisions off the court.

Jordan released a statement apologizing for a homophobic tweet and took an unexpected leave of absence in the middle of Big East play, before returning a game later against Villanova.

With no professional options available, he originally elected to return for his junior year to play under new head coach Chris Mullin. But Jordan didn't attend his final exams from the previous semester, which put his college eligibility in jeopardy.

His time at St. John's was over, and after trying to latch on in the D-League, Jordan was released by the Delaware 87ers, virtually ending his basketball career.