The BIG EAST Conference released the St. John’s University men’s basketball team’s finalized schedule, complete with game times and television broadcast information, on Friday night. A total of 24 St. John’s regular season matchups will appear on television, excluding broadcast information that may be added for the 2010 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, as well as the Red Storm’s visit to Fordham’s historic Rose Hill Gym on Saturday, Dec. 11.

The Red Storm will appear in 11 nationally-televised games during the regular season, including late January/early February matchups with Duke and UCLA on CBS and nine additional games on the ESPN family of national networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU). In addition, STJ will make 13 appearances on New York regional sports networks (SNY, MSG, MSG Plus).

For the third-straight season, St. John’s men’s basketball games will be carried on the Red Storm’s powerful flagship station, Bloomberg Radio 1130-AM. Expert commentary will be provided by veteran broadcaster John Minko and former St. John’s standout guard Tarik Turner. Any non-televised home game will be carried live by RedStormSports.com’s subscription-based broadband Internet video service, StormTracker All-Access, with play-by-play announcer Ralph Bednarczyk on the call.

St. John’s new head coach Steve Lavin guides a Red Storm team with a 10-man senior class. STJ veterans include returning scoring leaders D.J. Kennedy (15.1 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 3.1 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game), Dwight Hardy (10.5 ppg, .383 3-point field goal percentage) and Paris Horne (9.2 ppg).

The Lavin Era officially begins on the road and on national television, as St. John’s will take on 2010 NCAA Tournament participant Saint Mary’s (Calif.) at the Gaels’ home in Moraga, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 2 a.m. E.T. The matchup is the second game as part of ESPN’s third annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, which features 12 live college basketball games in 24 consecutive hours on the network.

St. John’s plays 16 regular season home dates in all, with eight at Madison Square Garden, “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” and seven on campus at Carnesecca Arena, plus an exhibition contest against Westmont in Queens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6. In all, St. John’s could play 19 regular-season games against teams that participated in postseason tournaments in 2009-10 (NCAA – Duke, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pitt, Saint Mary’s, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia; NIT – Arizona State, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Northwestern, Seton Hall, USF).

For ticket information, schedules, scores and highlights for all St. John’s games, visit the home of the Red Storm on the Internet at www.redstormsports.com. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling the St. John’s Ticket Office at 1-888-GO-STORM or 718-990-6211.