At this point it would be a complete shock if Friday’s matchup between St. John’s and UConn isn’t the first of three meetings in the next five weeks between the teams.
After its showdown at Madison Square Garden, they’ll meet again at the end of the month in Hartford and likely return to The Garden for the Big East Tournament Championship as the presumptive top two seeds in the league.
UConn has not lost in conference play and St. John’s only blip was a late second half collapse against Providence in early January. Mostly, it’s games against other Big East foes have not been competitive.
It’s a bad look on the league that the combined record of the Huskies and Johnnies is 19-1 and the gap between the top two and the middle of the conference is as big as the top of the Empire State Building to the sidewalk.
Because of its struggles, the Big East is almost assured three bids to the NCAA Tournament (UConn, St. John’s, and Villanova) but its chances at a fourth are fading by the game with Seton Hall’s five losses in the last seven games.
Anyone else in the league would have to win the conference tournament in order to go dancing, which is extremely unlikely. It could be the second time in three years that the league is only putting three teams in March Madness.
For fans of college basketball, it’s great theater that St. John’s and UConn will two of the most hyped games of the season but for the league it’s a dark cloud. It shows that there is no spark with the rest of its teams.
The big games, hype, and entertainment is what the Big East was known for and it’s severely lacking this year.
Both regular season meetings between St. John’s and UConn will be pegged as the games of the year in the conference and the league needs these games to deliver instant classics to generate some momentum.
Regardless, Madison Square Garden will be electric, and FOX will likely get a big rating for the game, and it’ll be up to St. John’s and UConn to deliver on the court.