Freshman Focus: Rysheed Jordan Leading St. John's Resurgence, but Still Has a Huge Ceiling

The way Jamie Ross figures it, Rysheed Jordan is still a long way from reaching his ceiling as a basketball player.

Ross, Jordan’s former high school coach at Philly Vaux Roberts, believes that while some of college basketball’s Fabulous Freshmen may have already peaked, Jordan is just beginning a journey that could eventually lead him to a successful career in the NBA.

“Looking at some of the other freshmen around the country that came in his class, I think some of them have already reached their ceiling,” Ross, now an assistant at Philly Roman Catholic, told SNY.tv Monday.

“I mean, some of them, that’s as good as they are, that’s as good as they’re going to be. I think with Rysheed, he has a lot of growing to do as far as physically, mentally and his game, so I think the sky’s the limit for him.”

The 6-foot-4 Jordan is already something special.

On Sunday night, he went for a career-high 24 points as St. John’s won its fifth straight game with an 82-60 trouncing of Georgetown at Madison Square Garden.

On Monday, he was named the Big East Rookie of the Week after averaging 11.5 points, 6.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in two wins over Providence and Georgetown. For the season, he’s averaging 8.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

More importantly for St. John’s, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi now has St. John’s playing a play-in game against St. Joe’s in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner to face No. 5 Iowa in San Antonio.

Of course, St. John’s, which has rebounded from an 0-5 start in Big East play to be 17-9, 7-6 in the league, needs to keep on winning to make that a reality.

And Jordan’s continued improvement may hold the keys to an NCAA Tournament bid.

“When he’s playing good and making plays and making shots, they’re good,” Ross said. “When he’s not, their chances of winning are less likely.”

Jordan’s mother and grandmother have both had health issues this season, and Ross conceded that has been a distraction.

“It has been enough of distraction where he really can’t concentrate and perform like he wants to,” Ross said. “But like I said, he just has to realize that he just has to do what he’s supposed to do on the basketball court in practice and in games and try to deal with that stuff when he’s off the court.”

St. John’s coach Steve Lavin said there has been on single lightbulb moment with Jordan, rather just the steady progression of a freshman point guard.

“There wasn’t that dramatic moment where you look him in his eyes and can tell he’s now ready to take flight,” Lavin said. “There wasn’t a practice where we said, ‘Boy, this is the Rysheed Jordan we knew when we recruited him.’

“It’s been more gradual. I think that’s why no one is really surprised on the team or the staff, because we’ve been around him so much, watched his play in practice and games, so when he does these things on the court, its like, ‘Of course, it’s Rysheed, he does this every day.’… I think it’s just an evolution of a player, that’s what I see. Anytime you have a freshman point guard theres going to be a transition from high school to college. And then in particular he missed six weeks with a bad back in the summer of our development, in terms of strength, conditioning, skill work, he missed that whole development component, six weeks.”

Entering Tuesday’s game against Butler at the Garden, Jordan hopes to continue to help the Johnnies pile up more victories to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume.

Going forward, NBA scouts believe Jordan needs at least one more year in college — and they believe the same about teammates JaKarr Sampson, Chris Obekpa and D’Angelo Harrison.

But eventually, when the time comes, Ross think Jordan can make a fine NBA player.

“His body, his game, his frame, he has the kind of build for that,” Ross said, “especially if he gets a whole lot better shooting the ball and making decisions with the ball, I think his game is suited for the NBA.”

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Here’s a look at how other top freshmen are doing:

**JOEL EMBIID 7-0 C, Kansas

Stats: 10.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.5 blocks

Next 3 games: Tuesday at Texas Tech, Saturday vs. Texas, Monday vs. Oklahoma

Mock Drafts: Draft Express No. 1

What to read: Watch out if Embiid and Wiggins take the next step

Meet Kansas’ Joel Embiid

**ANDREW WIGGINS, 6-8 SF, Kansas

Stats: 16.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.7 apg

Next 3 games: Tuesday at Texas Tech, Saturday vs. Texas, Monday vs. Oklahoma

Mock Drafts: Draft Express No. 2