Jalen Gaffney cuts list to six, St. John’s included

The Westtown School (PA) star Jalen Gaffney has announced his top six schools; St. John’s remains on the list for the combo guard, along with Clemson, Connecticut, Florida, Pittsburgh and Xavier.

St. John’s has been following the 6’2” combo guard for a time now — since 2016 — and for a while looked to be the highest-level school involved in his recruitment. But soon, Florida and Xavier came to call, along with the rebuilding Pittsburgh program.

Gaffney has attended Red Storm Tip-Off, has come to visit unofficially, and continues to draw attention as one of the top targets from the Johnnies. He is known as a player with talent and skill whose body will catch up to his game in college; he was once listed as 6’0”, 150 pounds.

But Gaffney, who plays on Team Rio with Scottie Lewis and Bryan Antoine, and who has taken tutelage from former Rutgers and Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice, has recently drawn more high major attention, picking up the Florida and Xavier offers in the spring and the Clemson offer in July.

Gaffney is a talented player who has not been high in the rankings, for some reason, despite the plethora of high-major offers. The website 247Sports lists him at 133 in their own internal rankings nationally for the class of 2019.

Will he come to the Johnnies and be the next slim slashing guard, like Shamorie Ponds and Mikey Dixon? Or will he choose another program?