St. John’s basketball: Big East changes COVID-19 forfeit rule

The Big East Conference changed its COVID-19 forfeit rule as St. John’s basketball gives back a win. 

The St. John’s basketball team lost a victory on Wednesday and it might have been for the best.

After the Red Storm was handed a forfeit victory on Monday against Seton Hall, the Big East Conference reportedly amended its rule that teams which were not able to play due to positive COVID-19 tests had to forfeit and its opponent was given a victory.

The slew of changes began on Wednesday afternoon when the Atlantic Coast Conference changed its forfeit policy and many conferences shortly followed in its footsteps.

Four Big East games had already been forfeited in the first week of conference play: St. John’s vs. Seton Hall, Creighton vs. DePaul, Georgetown vs. Providence, and Seton Hall vs. DePaul.

ALSO READ: St. John’s gets forfeit victory over Seton Hall in COVID debacle

All games that were previously deemed forfeits will now be looked at as postponed and teams can reschedule games that were impacted by COVID-19.

If teams cannot find a mutual date to reschedule, the games will be looked at as a ‘no-contest’ and not be reflected in the standings.

Previous forfeits would only count in the conference’s standings and not be looked at in favor, or negatively, for NCAA Tournament resumes.

St. John’s basketball dealing with its own COVID issues

The new omicron variant has wreaked havoc on college basketball scheduling over the last week and St. John’s has been impacted by positive tests within its program despite the vaccination of three key players; Julian Champagnie, Joel Soriano, and Tareq Coburn.

St. John’s has not postponed, canceled, or previously forfeited a game because of COVID.

ALSO READ: St. John’s star Julian Champagnie to miss multiple games

Its forfeit against Seton Hall was due to positive tests within the Pirates program and following the Red Storm’s embarrassing loss on Saturday against Pittsburgh, the Johnnies need a resume enhancing victory.

Seton Hall is currently ranked at No. 15 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll and a road victory over the Pirates would be massive for the NCAA Tournament hopes of the Johnnies.

St. John’s (8-3), despite its COVID problems, is still scheduled to play Butler (7-4) on Thursday night at Carnesecca Arena (6:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1).