St. John’s won at last-place Providence (6-8-3, 1-7-3 Big East), 2-1, on Friday, to secure a Big East playoff spot (its third straight and seventh all-time) after South Florida (7-8-3, 3-7-1 Big East) lost at home, 1-0, to Pittsburgh (7-11-1, 4-6-1 Big East).
The Red Storm (8-5-5, 4-4-3 Big East) then tuned up for the conference tournament with a 1-1 draw at Connecticut (6-8-5, 4-3-4 Big East) in its regular season finale on Sunday, to finish in fourth place in the American Division of the Big East conference standings.
With a strong 4-1-1 charge to the playoffs in its final six regular season games, the recently Red (hot) Storm are definitely ones to watch this week, as a possible dangerous entry in the Big East tournament.
St. John’s could get an early opportunity to demonstrate just how precarious a matchup they could be for a top seed, against the tournament’s overwhelming favorite. As the number four seed from the American division, the Red Storm will host Cincinnati (9-6-3, 5-3-3 Big East), the number 5 seed from the National division, at 7pm, on Thursday night.
Should St. John’s survive that first-round contest, they would travel to South Bend, Indiana, to meet the overall top seed, Notre Dame (18-0, 11-0 Big East), in a potential quarterfinal game, at 1pm, on Sunday.