St. John's in tough field for 2026 Players Era Festival
St. John's head coach Rick Pitino against Duke in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr
The matchups will not be set until later this month, however St. John’s learned on Thursday which teams will be in the field when it returns to Las Vegas for its three high-profile games at the Players Era Festival.
The tournament downsized plans to expand to 32 teams from last season’s 18 and is instead going to two brackets, one with eight teams that will be played a week before Thanksgiving week and one with 16 teams, including the Red Storm, during Thanksgiving week.
The Storm will be in a field with defending national champion Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, Gonzaga, Louisville, Miami, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Baylor, Maryland, San Diego State, Oregon, Creighton and TCU.
The field was first reported by ESPN, which reached an agreement with the tournament to broadcast all 37 games.
St. John’s went 1-2 in Las Vegas last season as it stumbled to a 9-5 start but ended up winning 30 games for a second straight season and reaching its first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 27 years.
The bracket format being used for the Players Era Festival will be a welcome change for coach Rick Pitino and the Storm.
In the 2025 tournament, the third game matchups were determined by record and margin of victory in two scheduled games and didn’t exactly stick to the anticipated formatting. St. John’s had expected to face Houston in its third game and was preparing for the Cougars, then learned hours before tip-off it would play Auburn and lost to the Tigers.
Participating teams last season were to earn at least $1 million in NIL money. The payouts this season will average over $1 million.
The eight-team bracket that will be played the week before includes Rutgers, Florida, Auburn, UNLV, West Virginia, Kansas, Notre Dame and Houston.
On the recruiting trail
St. John’s hosted 6-11 Theo Edema of Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, a highly sought recruit in the class of 2027, according to photos he posted on social media. He could potentially reclassify to become a college freshman for this coming season.
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.
