St. John’s coach Steve Lavin is headed to Milan this weekend to recruit 2015 guard Federico Mussini.
If Mussini doesn’t sign a big contract overseas and opts for college, he could wind up on the Johnnies roster like fellow Rome native Amar Alibegovic, a 6-foot-9 stretch forward now on the team.
The 6-foot, 160-pound Mussini is ranked No. 13 in the 1996 European age group by Eurohoops and No. 7 by DraftExpress.com. He averaged 14.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in the 2012 U16 European Championship Men’s Division.
In the 2014 Mannheim Tournament, he averaged 20.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists as Italy beat the USA to win the event. In the European Championship Men’s Division, he averaged 22.6 points, 4.0 rebound and 2.1 assists.
St. John’s is focusing on getting three to four guards at a minimum because they are losing six seniors.
They are in the mix for Louisiana shooting guard Brandon Sampson and Roselle (N.J.) Catholic point guard Isaiah Briscoe, who both recently took officials to campus. The 6-3 Briscoe will cut his list to three on Saturday.
Meantime, St. John’s has also reached out to former Oregon commit Ray Kasongo, a 6-9 power forward now at College of Southern Idaho. Assistant coach Jim Whitesell is expected to visit Kasongo soon.
The Johnnies are also in the mix for JUCO forward Luis Montero, as Zach Smart wrote here.
