St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Announces 2007-08 Men's Basketball Schedule
9/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 5, 2007
2007-08 St. John's Men's Basketball Quick Facts, Roster and Schedule in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
QUEENS, N.Y. - Nationally televised matchups, a pre-Christmas appearance in the University of Hawaii's Rainbow Classic and road trips to Miami and Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium underscore the schedule for St. John's 100th year on the hardwood (1908-2008). Fourth-year head coach Norm Roberts and his talented, young squad could play as many as 15 contests against teams that reached the postseason in 2006-07, all as the BIG EAST expands to an 18-game regular season conference schedule and the University engages in a season-long celebration of St. John's basketball centennial.
The BIG EAST released a composite schedule of its 16 member schools on Wednesday, which includes opponents, dates and national television information. St. John's regional television matchups, game times and radio information will be released at a later date. All 2007-08 conference games are guaranteed to air on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN Regional or ESPN 360).
"We are looking forward to an exciting year, where we will be playing a very competitive schedule against some of the top teams in the country," said Roberts. "We have a great opportunity to play tough teams on the road like Duke and Miami, and its great to be in tournaments with history like the Rainbow Classic and our own Holiday Festival. Our non-conference schedule will be challenging, and our home schedule overall has really improved with the increased number of BIG EAST conference games. Now we have terrific BIG EAST matchups at both The Garden and Carnesecca Arena, and I hope our fans are really excited to watch great BIG EAST basketball games at both venues."
The Red Storm adds seven exciting newcomers to a squad that posted St. John's first winning record since 2002-03 a season ago (16-15), amassed the most victories since its 21-13 campaign four years ago and compiled its best conference record (7-9) since 2003 as well. Senior Eugene Lawrence, the BIG EAST's leader in assists last season with 5.6 per game, and junior Anthony Mason Jr. (11.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game) lead the cast of six returning letterwinners for St. John's.
St. John's opens the season with four-straight November home games against regional squads, taking on St. Francis (N.Y.) (Nov. 14), Sacred Heart (Nov. 20), Fairleigh Dickinson (Nov. 25) and LIU (Nov. 28) at venerable Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y.
After the season-opening homestand, the Red Storm heads to Coral Gables, Fla., for a nationally televised matchup against former BIG EAST opponent and current ACC squad Miami (Dec. 2). The game will be carried throughout the country on FOX Sports Net. St. John's then returns home to Queens for a 97th all-time meeting with fellow Vincentian school Niagara (Dec. 15).
For the first time since 1976, the men's basketball team will touch down in the tropics of Hawaii, as the Red Storm participates in the 2007 Rainbow Classic. The Red Storm meets the Ohio Bobcats in the opening round (Dec. 19), then faces Louisiana-Lafayette or tournament-host Hawaii and continues in championship/consolation play to as the bracket rolls on, Dec. 21-22.
Winners of two of the last three Holiday Festivals, St. John's looks to recapture the crown in the 2007 version of the classic event at Madison Square Garden, presented by Aeropostale. The Red Storm meets Marist on Dec. 28, following a matchup between ACC foe Virginia Tech and Hofstra. The winners meet for the championship on Dec. 29.
BIG EAST conference play gets underway just after the New Year, and opens when the Red Storm heads north to the Carrier Dome for a tilt with upstate league rival Syracuse (Jan. 2). St. John's plays host to Cincinnati on Saturday, Jan. 5, at Carnesecca Arena for the first of two meetings with the Bearcats. Road trips to UConn (Jan. 8) and the first of two matchups with reigning NIT champion West Virginia (Jan. 17) sandwich a Carnesecca Arena home game against Vincentian BIG EAST rival DePaul (Jan. 12).
St. John's faces Pitt (Jan. 23) and Georgetown (Jan. 30) on consecutive Wednesdays at The World's Most Famous Arena, interrupted by a road trip to Louisville's Freedom Hall on Saturday, Jan. 26. The Red Storm then hits the road for two consecutive road tilts, meeting South Florida on Feb. 2 at the Sun Dome and Rutgers on Feb. 6 at the RAC. Three of the next four games are at home, as Providence visits Carnesecca Arena on Feb. 9, the Red Storm heads to Cincinnati on Feb. 13, and Villanova (Feb. 16) and Marquette (Feb. 20) come to The Garden. The Red Storm-Golden Eagles matchup will air nationally on ESPN 2 at 7 p.m.
St. John's heads south to Tobacco Road for its annual meeting with the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday, Feb. 23, in a nationally televised contest on CBS (4 p.m.). This will be the 10th-straight season in which the two squads have met.
The Red Storm makes the return trip to Georgetown's Verizon Center on Feb. 27 before returning to Queens to host Seton Hall on Saturday, March 1. St. John's visits Notre Dame's Joyce Convention Center for the first time in three seasons on March 5, before honoring the careers of its seniors in a celebration at The Garden on Sunday, March 8, when the Red Storm takes on West Virginia in the final game of the regular season.
The BIG EAST Championship Tournament takes place at the World's Most Famous Arena from Wednesday, March 12, to Saturday, March 15.
In all, St. John's could play 15 regular-season games against teams that participated in postseason tournaments in 2006-07 (NCAA - Final Four participant Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Duke, Louisville, Marquette, Villanova, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Niagara; NIT - West Virginia, DePaul, Syracuse, Hofstra).
For ticket information, schedules, scores and highlights for all St. John's games, visit the new-look home of the Red Storm on the Internet at www.redstormsports.com. Tickets can be purchased on-line or by calling the St. John's Ticket Office at 1-888-GO-STORM.
