Lenn Robbins in the New York post reports that the St. John's Red Storm will be participating in this year's Big East/ SEC challenge, matching 12 of the Big East's teams against all 12 of the Southeastern Conference's basketball teams.
And apparently, St. John's must now qualify as prime time television... because they match up with the storied Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, December 1st.
Whoa.
Robbins reports in the NY Post that the Johnnies will play in Kentucky, facing the extremely talented team with another crop of top-10 prospects to join returnee Terrence Jones and New Yorker Doron Lamb.
Assuming this is a done deal, this is exciting for exposure... but here, I thought Steve Lavin said he wanted to have an easier schedule for his young team?
So far, we know that the Red Storm have a game against Duke on tap, probably at Cameron Indoor Stadium. And the Coaches versus Cancer setup matches the Johnnies against two of Mississippi State, Arizona Wildcats, and Texas A&M. And an improved UCLA Bruins team in Madison Square Garden. That's a crazy schedule...
The full schedule of the Big East/ SEC challenge:
| Date | Game |
| Thu, Dec 1 | St. John’s at No. 2 Kentucky |
| Georgetown at No. 14 Alabama | |
| Providence at South Carolina | |
| Mississippi at DePaul | |
| Fri, Dec 2 | No. 7 Vanderbilt at No. 9 Louisville |
| No. 12 Florida at No. 4 Syracuse | |
| No. 19 Cincinnati at Georgia | |
| Auburn at Seton Hall | |
| Sat, Dec 3 | Arkansas at No. 6 Connecticut |
| No. 17 Pittsburgh at Tennessee | |
| West Virginia at Mississippi State | |
| LSU at Rutgers |
Paricipating Big East teams: Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia.
Not participating: Marquette, Notre Dame, South Florida, Villanova
PS: Robbins also states that Lamont Momo Jones will also transfer to St. John's. We've touched on Momo Jones coming to St. John's and his pluses and minuses; we will see if this is true and follow up on the story with an updated scholarship chart. Hard to keep all the newcomers straight!