St. John’s released the 2018-19 non-conference schedule and dates. It’s not a schedule built with marquee matchups outside of Duke, but it is a schedule that will keep Chris Mullin’s red Storm close to home and give the squad a chance to rack up wins/ build confidence and possibly face off against a team that improves at the end of the year, raising the St. John’s RPI.

St. John’s 2018-19 non-conference schedule Date Opponent Location Other Info Last Season KenPom Ranking Date Opponent Location Other Info Last Season KenPom Ranking 11/1/2018 Maryville Carnesecca (Queens) *Exhibition 11/6/2018 Loyola Maryland Carnesecca (Queens) 323 11/9/2018 Bowling Green Carnesecca (Queens) 232 11/15/2018 at Rutgers RAC (Piscataway, NJ) Gavitt TipOff Games 130 11/19/2018 California Barclays (Brooklyn) Legends Classic 244 11/20/2018 Temple/ VCU Barclays (Brooklyn) 86/ 144 11/27/2018 Maryland Eastern Shore Carnesecca (Queens) 349 12/1/2018 Georgia Tech American Airlines Arena (Miami, FL) Hoophall Invitational 119 12/5/2018 Mount St. Mary's Carnesecca (Queens) 238 12/9/2018 Princeton Madison Square Garden (NY, NY) Holiday Festival 190 12/16/2018 Wagner Carnesecca (Queens) 180 12/19/2018 St. Francis (Bklyn) Carnesecca (Queens) 313 12/22/2018 Sacred Heart Carnesecca (Queens) 305 2/2/2018 at Duke Cameron Indoor (Durham, NC) 3

The average KenPom ranking of those teams last season is 208 out of 351.

To understand how this schedule positions the Red Storm, keep in mind that next year is predicted to be a down year for the Big East. If that prediction comes to pass — if the Big East has a number of teams that struggle in early season play or comes into January with few marquee wins over power-conference and high-end teams — the Johnnies will likely need a top-four finish in the league with a solid winning record to get into the NCAA Tournament.

(These are predictions, they could always be wrong. Nothing written here is legally binding.)

The Johnnies have lost Tariq Owens to transfer, a huge factor that they will work on overcoming in this schedule, which should allow for trying new combinations and getting players comfortable.

Though the schedule has four Northeast Conference teams and two (or three, depending on your outlook) poor major conference teams, this is also a St. John’s team working in a number of pieces to the core of Shamorie Ponds/ Justin Simon/ Marvin Clark II.

The Red Storm will have transfer guard Mikey Dixon on the floor, replicating some of what the staff expected to have with Marcus Lovett next to Shamorie Ponds. Sedee Keita should give a different and burlier look inside.

Additionally, LJ Figueroa finally gets on the floor at a Division I college to provide scoring and playmaking. Freshman Greg Williams is expected to join Bryan Trimble, Jr. to create scoring and pressure opportunities in the backcourt. The team hopes that both Marcellus Earlington and Josh Roberts, two freshman forwards, can provide some interior presence on defense, at the least.

Quick notes on the opponents