Former Indiana forward Reed Bailey is headed to St. John’s, and he’s doing it fast. After entering the transfer portal, Bailey committed to and signed with Rick Pitino’s program not long afterward, according to reporting from On3’s Pete Nakos.
The move gives St. John’s another frontcourt option after an injury to prized transfer addition Donnie Freeman, who came to the Red Storm after two seasons at Syracuse.
Bailey is expected to play power forward rather than center for St. John’s, which makes this less of a direct swap and more of a chance for Pitino to fit another versatile piece into the mix.
Bailey’s run at Indiana came in the first roster under Darian DeVries last season. He transferred in after a long career at Davidson and opened the year as Indiana’s starter at center before Sam Alexis passed him on the depth chart. Bailey averaged 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 57% from the field in 19.1 minutes per game in 2025-26.
Indiana’s center situation for 2025-26 now has both of its former options back in college basketball with fifth years of eligibility, but only Alexis will return to the Hoosiers. Alexis announced his return after the program’s international trip to Lima, where he joined the roster to give Indiana another option at the five.
For St. John’s, the question is whether Pitino can get more out of Bailey than Indiana did. He showed enough at Davidson to make the move worthwhile, but the Hoosiers never quite got that version of him to fully carry over.
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