Mustapha Heron to receive hardship waiver, will be eligible immediately for St. John’s

St. John’s chances of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the third time this decade — and first under all-time leading scorer-turned head coach Chris Mullin — received a significant boost shortly after Friday night turned into Saturday morning in the Big Apple.

The Red Storm’s outlook was bolstered with the long-awaited news that Mustapha Heron — who joined the program at the end of May after transferring from Auburn — is expected to receive the hardship waiver that the university applied for shortly after his arrival. As a result, the junior from Connecticut will be eligible immediately, and instantly becomes the second-most talented player on a roster that returns the likely Big East Conference Preseason Player of the Year in Heron’s classmate, junior guard Shamorie Ponds.

“Family takes precedence over everything,” Heron told Zach Braziller of the New York Post shortly after his commitment to St. John’s. “I wanted to be able to find a way to be close to home and still be playing in a great conference. Hopefully I can come here and have a great career here.”

“I’m incredibly thankful that the NCAA has decided to allow me to play right away closer to home,” he added Saturday morning. “I would like to thank all the staff at St. John’s that fought to make this a possibility for me and my family.”

ZagsBlog founder and New York Times contributor Adam Zagoria was first to break news of Heron’s waiver receipt shortly after midnight, a news item that was later confirmed by several other college basketball insiders after dawn. Heron, a 6-foot-5 slasher, averaged 16.4 points per game last season as Auburn defied expectations en route to a Southeastern Conference regular season championship and second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where his Tigers were the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Regional. Now, he gets to ply his wares much closer to home, and will be counted on by a long-suffering fan base to get the Red Storm back to a place many feel should be a regular destination for the program that bills itself as New York’s team.

“With the pieces we have, we definitely can be special,” Heron told the Post.