St. John's opponents, dates announced for NIT Tip-Off

The 2014 NIT Season Tip-Off was formally announced by the NCAA  on Friday morning, and the St. John's Red Storm of the Big East Conference find themselves in the mix.

We knew that the Red Storm were going to be involved in this year's event, but a dramatic change has impacted the schedule. Because the NCAA could only obtain eight teams instead of the usual 16, this year's 2014 NIT Season Tip-Off will merely feature a semifinal and final at the world famous Madison Square Garden in New York City. The news was reported by ESPN's Andy Katz.

Per the St. John's men's basketball Twitter account, the Johnnies will play Franklin Pierce and the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds on November 17 and November 19, 2014 respectively. Those games will take place at historic Carnesecca Arena in Queens.

Then, on November 26, St. John's will match up with the 2014 NIT Champions, Richard Pitino's Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference. Pending the result of their game, and the opposite semifinal matchup, on November 28 they will take on either the Gonzaga Bulldogs of the West Coast Conference or the Georgia Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference.