The Big East was once the behemoth of college basketball.
Every night was a war to win a game but no matter how many of the league’s head coaches want to tell you that this is still the best basketball conference in the country, they are wrong.
Sure, the conference can emerge with the National Champion in either UConn or St. John’s, but there is very little depth behind the top two teams and non-conference play was a disaster for the metrics of the majority of teams.
Big East play started on Saturday in a thriller as Butler topped Providence in double overtime, but the league’s slate of games will be filled with high stakes and low rewards for the Huskies and Red Storm, having to win to avoid resume killing losses for its NCAA Tournament metrics.
For St. John’s, action begins on Tuesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) against DePaul (8-3) inside Carnesecca Arena.
As of Tuesday morning, it’s a Quad 3 game for the No. 22 Johnnies (6-3) – as good as a buy game against Quinnipiac, who sits one spot ahead of the Blue Demons in the NET rankings.
A win for St. John’s means very little and a loss would be crushing for its future postseason seeding. It’s the case in far too many Big East games at the moment where teams have similar to equal athletes as the Red Storm and a hot shooting night from its opponent could spell disaster.
It’s not what conference play in a league like the Big East is meant to symbolize.
As the NET rankings currently stand, St. John’s will only play five Quad 1 games in league play (vs. UConn, at UConn, at Villanova, at Seton Hall, at Butler). There are seven Quad 2 and Quad 3 opportunities and one Quad 4 game (vs. Marquette).
It all adds up to the fact that there are not many chances to move the needle for the Storm when being compared to teams around the country.
As an example, No. 12 North Carolina (9-1) will play eight Quad 1 games in the ACC, a league that has struggled over the last three seasons and now only plays 18 conference games, six Quad 2 games, three Quad 3 games, and one Quad 4 game.
NET rankings move daily, but there will unlikely be enough movement among Big East teams to let St. John’s have comparable resume building opportunities to other power conference teams.
It sets the stage for a pressure packed Big East slate for the Red Storm in which they will hope to defend its regular season and tournament championships from a year ago.