St. John’s basketball gets forfeit victory over Seton Hall in COVID debacle

The St. John’s basketball game has picked up a forfeit victory over rival Seton Hall. 

It is a situation that the St. John’s basketball program feels all too familiar with. Scheduling chaos.

The Big East Conference announced on Friday afternoon that Monday’s conference opener between St. John’s and No. 16 Seton Hall has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols in the Pirates program.

Seton Hall announced on Thursday that its game on Saturday against Iona, scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden minutes after St. John’s game against Pittsburgh, was canceled because of the virus as well.

St. John’s gets credited with a forfeit victory that will only be acknowledged in the conference standings as its record now sits at 8-2 (1-0 Big East).

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Conference rules currently state that the teams can not schedule a makeup date, unlike last season.

However, the victory will not be reflected in the NET rankings, KenPom, or any other analytical metric that is used to select teams for the NCAA Tournament.

The Johnnies can now add another non-conference game to its schedule, although nothing is imminent.

Seton Hall (9-1, 0-1 Big East) needs seven scholarship players to play in Monday’s game and Zach Braziller of the New York Post reported that the Pirates only have six players available due to positive tests and injuries.

The Asbury Park Press was the first to report the news of the cancellation.

Seton Hall also dealt with Covid issues in the summer.

St. John’s basketball with challenges ahead prior to end of year

The Johnnies will still face Pittsburgh (3-7, 0-1 ACC) in the Gotham Classic on Saturday afternoon at The Garden and will have its official conference opener on December 23 in Queens against Butler (7-3).

St. John’s will close out the calendar year against Marquette (8-3) at Carnesecca Arena on December 29.

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There has been no decision made on Seton Hall’s next scheduled contest against DePaul (9-1), who has also recently entered a COVID pause.

If both teams are unable to field a team the game will count as a forfeit and both programs get credited with a conference loss.