From Storming the Floor, here is a snippet from an interview with NIT Selection Committee chair CM Newton (with more article on ESPN the Magazine's site), in regards to the interesting matchups in the preseason NIT:
St. John's is up there with BC, and they're both improved. It's going to be an interesting tournament.
I almost think he's just being nice... but that's how I feel about St. John's pod in that tournament. Cornell is no gimme game, both because of the talent and cohesiveness of the Big Red and the fact that St. John's under Coach Roberts has managed to boot winnable games against low and mid-majors.
But if they can win against Cornell, they meet a team in some kind of transition in Boston College. They weren't world-beaters last year (14-17, 5-13 in conference), they lost a couple of players, and they have a player trying to transform himself from a one-man show to a distribution guard. I don't think the last will be a factor (Tyrese Rice had a fantastic assist rate), but if St. John's defense improves toward the level it was at before the current sophomores get on the court, the Red Storm could surprise.
Or maybe that quote was "please watch that game even if it sounds like it sucks! We realize this pod is a complete dud!"