St. John's Stars Soriano, Taylor Jr., Dingle On Preseason Watch Lists

 

Joel Soriano going up for a dunk against Rutgers in a preseason game on October 21st. @StJohnsBball.

This week, three St. John's standouts received national recognition, as Joel Soriano was named to the Preseason Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Watch List, Glenn Taylor Jr. is on the Preseason Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Watch List, and Jordan Dingle was placed on the Preseason Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List.

St. John's is one of 12 programs to have three or more players selected to preaseason watch lists by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Joel Soriano: The St. John's senior captain who was a Preseason All-Big East First Team selection was named to the Preseason Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Watch List on Friday.

A Yonkers native, Soriano was a semifinalist for the award last season when he averaged a career-best 15.2 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. He led the Big East in rebounds, the first St. John's player since the inception of the conference to be the category leader, and that also was fourth-most in the nation. He is just the ninth player in St. John's history to rack up 500 or more rebounds in his first two years with the program.

Soriano also notched an astonishing 25 double-doubles, was was second-most in NCAA Division I and the most by a St. John's player since Walter Berry in 1985-86. 

20 players made the Abdul-Jabbar Watch List, and Soriano is one of four from the Big East to make it, including UConn's Donovan Clingan, Villanova's Eric Dixon, and Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Glenn Taylor Jr.: The Oregon State transfer junior forward Glenn Taylor Jr. was named to the Preseason Julius Erving Small Forward Watch List on Wednesday. He is the first Red Storm player to earn the honor since Julian Champagnie in 2021.

A 2022 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team Selection, Taylor Jr. averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in 62 games over two seasons with the Beavers. 

Taylor Jr. is one of four Big East players to make the final 20, along with Creighton's Baylor Scheierman, Marquette's David Joplin, and Villanova's Tyler Burton.

Jordan Dingle: The 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year with Penn transferred to St. John's this summer, and he was named to the Preseason Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List on Tuesday. He is the first Red Storm player to earn a spot on the list since Mustapha Heron in 2019.

Last season, Dingle averaged 23.4 points last season, which was the second-highest average in NCAA Division I. He ranked top-five in the Ivy League with 2.8 three-point field goals per game (2nd), 33.5 minutes per game (3rd), and shot 85.4 percent from the free-throw line (4th). In three years at Penn, he put up 1,536 points shot 44.5 percent from the floor, and notched 200 three-pointers over 79 appearances.