Big East Basketball: Non-conference schedule grades entering 2024-25 season
St. John’s Red Storm: C+
Noteworthy games: versus New Mexico*, Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship, versus K-State
There will be plenty of intrigue in Queens as long as HOF coach Rick Pitino continues to roam the sidelines -- and this season will be no different. The Red Storm will start its 2024-25 season with three buy-games before taking on New Mexico in the Madison Square Garden in the father-son Pitino dual. St. John’s will then travel to the Bahamas, facing Baylor in the semifinals of the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship followed by the winner/loser of Tennessee and Virginia. They will stay in the Bahamas for one more game, taking on Georgia in a single-game neutral-site tilt in The Atlantis.
Although the Red Storm will have plenty of Q1/Q2 opportunities with its non-conference schedule, the lack of a true road game takes a hit for its grade. Drawing Kansas State at home in the Big East-Big 12 Battle was out of its control, however, being the only Big East team without a true road game is not ideal.
Providence Friars: B-
Noteworthy games: Battle 4 Atlantis, versus BYU, at Rhode Island
The start of the Providence Friars non-conference slate is rather uninspiring with five-straight buy games to kickstart its 2024-25 season. However, it gets much more strenuous from there, facing Oklahoma in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis followed by potential matchups against Arizona, Davidson, Louisville, Indiana and Gonzaga in its final two games in Atlantis.
As part of the Big 12-Big East Battle, the Friars will host BYU -- a team that firmly expects to be in the NCAA Tournament conversation. To round out its non-conference schedule, the Friars will play a pair of A10 teams away from home: a road game against Rhode Island and a neutral-site tilt against St. Bonaventure as part of the 2024 HOF Showcase in Uncasville, CT.
The core of Providence’s non-conference schedule will come down to how they perform in Atlantis -- which will have no shortage of opportunities to snag high-quality, Q1/Q2 wins. With some pesky matchups sprinkled in there, Providence has put together a reasonable non-conference schedule that should help prepare them for Big East play.