The other member of this St. John’s group who will be firmly in the mix is Veney, a 6’4″ combo guard who seems to be growing in confidence with his own strengths and learning how to consistently use them to shine. He’s a bullish guard who can get downhill and bury his defender under the rim before finishing with touch. His decision making off the bounce as a passer, knocking down open three’s when they present themselves and even orchestrating the offense himself are all areas that have improved over the last eight months. He’s a guy who thrives in a system where he can use his instinctual timing as a cutter, his fundamentals in attacking closeouts/operating off triple threat, and reading the game within the offense flow.

Veney and Taylor will be the engine for St. John’s this season. Both were outstanding in last year’s title game and knowing how both are wired competitively, they’re foaming at the mouth to get back to the stage and prove their worthy as champions.

Veney’s recruitment expands across pretty much all levels of Division I basketball. With offers from various programs such as Butler, George Mason George Washington, Maryland and now from Delaware, Veney will have a healthy list of options to choose from that best fits his style of play and ability to impact as a freshman. He’s a strong-framed combo guard who put together strong performances at Philly Live that demanded the attention from coaches courtside. Veney is in the process of getting his visits set to respective campuses, but last I was told, doesn’t have a timeline in mind at the moment.

Veney rounds out the top five as a guard prospect who enters his senior season with St. John’s as the foundational piece for a potential WCAC run. He was a primary option for the Cadets in 2025-26 as they nearly upset PVI in the conference title game, but quickly bounced back to claim the DCSAA hardware. Veney is a strong-framed combo guard who is at his best bullying defenders in the mid-post using his combination of size, strength and feel as a scorer. There isn’t much fluff to Veney’s attack, which should bode well for him at the next level as he depends on fundamentals to gain advantages in 1-on-1’s, plays with good pace and does a nice job of drawing contact on drives to the rim for charity stripe visits. If St. John’s is able to capitalize on a conference championship this season, it’ll be because Veney emerged as the alpha and has taken the next step of a primary offensive weapon not only for himself, but as a playmaker for those around him. Some of the more recent offers since March include Butler, Delaware and Maryland.

29p 7r 3s vs Neumann-Goretti;
29p 3a 2r 2s 1b vs Wood

-Veney was probably the best overall performer as the head of the snake for a Cadets group that should enter the season as one of the favorites to win the WCAC. Veney was a killer from the midrange, attacking closeouts from the wings from either direction or pulling up in transition to knock down shots. Loved the balance and touch on some of the paint floaters and hanging baseline pull-ups with a defender in his face to score as an effective primary for SJC.

There isn’t a ton of flash to Veney’s game, and that’s perfectly fine. At this stage of his development, you want to see him score it in a manner that translates to a college floor, which consists of straight-line drives, minimizing dribbles to get to spots quickly before stopping on a dime to rise up and making quick decisions with the ball off the catch. Much of his scoring comes off the catch and rip or playing out of the triple-threat where he an use a lengthy first step to expose driving lanes. He’s an active mover without the ball and in transition, ran the lanes wide and with purpose.

Veney converted 20 of his 31 attempts from the field, good enough for 64.5 percent, converted 12-of-13 from the charity stripe and was good for a single three on the weekend, with only three attempts from deep.

-Our staff was early in believing in the Cadets’ leading guard, moving him into our top 10 at the start of the season as we anticipated a breakout season and were not disappointed. The only junior named to the WCAC 1st Team after an overtime duel with PVI in the championship game, Veney made strides as a leader at both ends of the floor for SJC that took full advantage of the opportunity in front of him with several key pieces graduating from the Cadets’ backcourt. Veney scored at a high level to carry his team in several marquee matchups with national teams and improved as an on-ball defender that used his positional size to guard several spots within SJC’s halfcourt schemes. His ability to create space for himself in the halfcourt off the bounce will likely be his next big area of improvement after a season of operating against opponents’ best perimeter defenders. But he seems up for the task and should build on his momentum on the AAU circuit this summer with Team Durant , as Maryland joined the growing list of scholarship offers for the junior guard.

There were long stretches of the semis and small spurts of the final that Jymin Veney took over. In the semis, Carroll really had no answer for him. In both games, he did well finishing through contact, and he had a number of really crafty finishes. He displayed great footwork and knocked down a few spot-up threes. He was a huge reason St. John’s was able to push their lead to 16 in the 2nd half, and he had a combined 41 points in the two games.

Scores the ball in a variety of ways. He can fill it up quickly once he sees one shot drop and creates separation with quick twitch/powerful moves. On his drives. He has a good feeling for when to draw defense’s attention and uses his instincts to locate open teammates for open opportunities. He is an active off ball defender with a knack for generating deflections. Jymin played a solid and control game against Bishop Ireton scoring 17 points on 5-11 from the field, 2-3 from the 3pt line, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.