St. John's Going Dancing…Sort Of

St. John’s is going dancing…sort of.

The Johnnies will take on Richmond in the 16-team 2009 College Basketball Invitational (CBI), which announced the field for its second-ever postseason event on Sunday night. The teams will meet at the Robins Center in the state capital of Virginia at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity to play in the CBI Tournament,” said Red Storm head coach Norm Roberts. “This gives our young group a chance to play in another tournament atmosphere following our appearance in the BIG EAST Championship Tournament last week. It’s another chance for us to grow and get better as a team.”

The CBI berth marks the first postseason appearance for the Red Storm since the 2003 NIT. St. John’s finished the season with a 16-17 record, tying for the most wins in the five-year Roberts Era. The Red Storm posted victories over then-No. 7 Notre Dame (Jan. 3, 71-65) and a pair of wins over longtime rival Georgetown – a 59-56 overtime thriller on March 3, and a 64-59 victory on March 10 in the opening round of the 2009 Big East Championship.

St. John’s owns a 3-0 record all-time against Richmond, but the schools have not faced each other since 1959 in a meeting at The Garden. Of note, Lithuanian Tomas Jasiulionis – the Red Storm’s only active senior class member – calls Richmond, Va., his American home. He attended Trinity Episcopal School while living with his host family.

The College Basketball Invitational is a single-elimination tournament up until the Championship Series, with all games being played at campus sites. The Championship Series will be a best-of-three series, home-away-home, in which the higher seed will get the first and last (if necessary) home games.

Here’s the bracket:

East Regional March 18th- 7:00 PM ET St. John’s (16-17) vs. Richmond (18-15) March 18th- 8:00 PM ET Charleston (26-8) vs. Troy (19-12)	West Regional March 18th- 8:00 PM ET Vermont (23-8) vs. Green Bay (22-10) March 18th- 10:00 PM ET Houston (21-11) vs. Oregon St. (13-17)
Midwest Regional March 18th- 8:00 PM ET Buffalo (21-11) vs. Wichita St. (16-16) March 18th- 10:00 PM ET Boise St. (19-12) vs. Stanford (18-13)	South Regional March 17th- 9:00 PM ET Northeastern (18-12) vs. Wyoming (19-13) March 17th- 11:00 PM ET UTEP (19-12) vs. Nevada (21-12)