St. John’s will start 1-0 in conference play for the first time in five years – but not in the way the Johnnies wanted to get there.
Monday’s game against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues within its program and, as per Big East rules, the Pirates have forfeited, according to sources. Seton Hall would only have six healthy scholarship players, and seven is needed to play. The 16th-ranked Pirates already canceled their meeting with Iona College on Saturday as part of a doubleheader at the Garden.
While it counts as a victory in the win column for St. John’s, it will not benefit the team in regards to the NCAA Tournament. The canceled matchup will go down as a no-contest and not help the Red Storm’s resume or NET ranking.
The forfeit will not count as one of St. John’s 31 regular season games, and it plans to play a full allotment of contests, meaning an additional non-conference game can now be scheduled. St. John’s faces Pittsburgh Saturday in the Gotham Classic at the Garden and will next meet Butler at Carnesecca Arena in its de facto Big East opener.
During a Big East meeting this week, the topic of possibly rescheduling games rather than ruling them forfeits was brought up, but it didn’t build any momentum, sources said. That could change if more games are canceled.
Seton Hall has a number of unvaccinated players and dealt with COVID-19 issues during the summer, forcing the program to pause offseason workouts. Seton Hall said in May that every member of its community had to be vaccinated, but allowed exceptions for “religious beliefs, pre-existing health conditions, or personal reasons while COVID-19 vaccines are authorized on an emergency-use basis.” The school then said last week that over 50 percent of the school had verified vaccination cards and that “unvaccinated individuals must declare a medical or religious exemption.”
