July 2, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's and the BIG EAST Conference announced the 2008-09 league matchups for the Red Storm men's basketball team on Wednesday. St. John's will take part in home-and-home series with Notre Dame, Seton Hall and Cincinnati during the upcoming season, and will meet the remaining BIG EAST league opponents once either at home or on the road.

In 2008-09, the BIG EAST will once again play an 18-game conference schedule, in which teams face 12 opponents once and three teams twice. It will mark the second year of the 18-game schedule, which began for the 2007-08 season. All 144 regular-season conference games will once again be televised, either by CBS Sports, the ESPN family of networks or ESPN Regional Television.

In addition to the Fighting Irish, Pirates and Bearcats, St. John's plays a host of marquee matchups against conference opponents. Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Syracuse, Rutgers and USF all travel to New York City for matchups on one of St. John's home courts - either at what will be the newly-renovated Carnesecca Arena or on the grand stage at Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena."

The Red Storm will hit the road to face Marquette, Pitt, Villanova, DePaul, Providence and West Virginia in addition to Notre Dame, Seton Hall and Cincinnati.

The decisions regarding repeat opponents are based on natural interest, geography, rivalries and television contractual obligations.

The complete St. John's men's basketball schedule, with non-conference opponents, dates, times and television information, will be released with the rest of the BIG EAST conference basketball schedules at a later date. Non-conference home matchups against ACC-opponents Miami (Fla.) and Duke and an appearance in the Preseason NIT also highlight the Red Storm's 2008-09 slate.

"With a league like the BIG EAST, we're always going to have a terrific, challenging, exciting schedule," said St. John's head coach Norm Roberts. "We are excited to welcome elite teams from our league to New York for games at The Garden and at what will be a fantastic new home court at Carnesecca Arena on campus. Add those games to some incredible matchups against non-conference opponents and a great event in the annual Holiday Festival, and our fans should have a lot to be excited about this season."

To order tickets for St. John's men's basketball home games, call 1-888-GO-STORM.