St. John's opens against Oregon in Players Era Festival
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino gestures during the first half against Duke in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament on Friday in Washington. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr
St. John’s first game against the loaded field at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas will be against Oregon on Tuesday, Nov. 24, according to the bracket released on Thursday afternoon. The tournament will run through a championship game on Nov. 28.
The 16-team tournament has no games scheduled for Nov. 25 and will pick up on Thanksgiving Day with quarterfinals and consolation games. The winners of the Red Storm-Ducks matchup and the Louisville-Texas Tech first-round game will meet in a quarterfinal with the losers meeting in a consolation bracket game the same day.
Semifinals and more consolation games — third-place and fifth-place games for each side of the 16-team bracket — will be played on Friday with the championship game scheduled for Saturday.
The Players Era Festival sought to expand to 32 teams in a single tournament but instead this year went to 24 and placed them in two tournaments. St. John’s is in the Players Era 16 during Thanksgiving week. The Players Era Eight will be played the week before.
In an interesting wrinkle, Duke is playing Connecticut in Las Vegas on Nov. 25, the day the Players Era has no games scheduled.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
