Dom Amore: UConn-St. John’s has feel of old-time Big East showdown its founder envisioned

HARTFORD — However it turns out, Dave Gavitt will no doubt be looking down and smiling as the UConn-St. John’s rematch-slash-grudge match unfolds at PeoplesBank Arena Wednesday night.

Of that much, we can be certain. Gavitt, who created the Big East with nights like this in mind, would be delighted to know that, for all the upheaval college sports, and particularly this conference has endured since his passing in 2011, his concept of must-see basketball in downtown arenas up and down the East Coast on snowy winter nights still had its old value and relevance. It may even have more, now that that nights like this no longer happen weekly, and there are still imposing figures to keep it alive.

On one sideline, there is a volatile UConn coach never satisfied that his program was getting all it had earned, and on the other is Rick Pitino. It may be Dan Hurley instead of Jim Calhoun, Pitino may be at St. John’s, not Providence, and the Hartford Civic Center may have another new name, but this is a retro night for the Big East. Even the media horde, long decimated by current trends, was back, with more than 80 credentials given out among Connecticut, New York and national outlets.

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“They came into a great environment in Madison Square Garden,” Pitino said Tuesday, in anticipation of the rematch. “We’re going to go into a great environment in Hartford.”

Yes, the Big East regular season title is on the line, but, really, the game is also about bragging rights, and that feels big enough. There may be college arenas in other parts of the country that generate a louder sustained roar, but the cities in these parts rise to occasions such as this; even if it is only one game, it’s a one-game season. In  the early days when UConn was still in the old Field House back on campus, the conference games in Hartford were the showcase events.

UConn’s 18-game winning streak was ended with a loss to St. John’s at The Garden on Feb. 6, a game that had the feel of a heavyweight title fight, and the Johnnies were the bigger, stronger and hungrier fighters. This second matchup feels more old-school Big East. It is , in fact, reminiscent of St. John’s appearance in Storrs on the night Gampel Pavilion opened in January 1990, snow on the ground and on the roof, high anticipation of the Huskies, upstarts in what was to be called their Dream Season, St. John’s long tradition established under Lou Carnesecca. UConn won that one, has been a dominant program in the original Big East, which broke up in 2013, and the new version, which UConn rejoined in 2020.

St. John’s long period as a conference also-ran ended when Pitino was hired, and he and Hurley have since been frenemies, going after the same things, expressing mutual respect, but often coming at it from different ways.

For example, Hurley has been very mindful, at least in his public comments, about where UConn will be seeded and sent in the NCAA Tournament. Pitino? Just get him to the dance on time.

“I went to a Final Four as a six seed, so as crazy at it sounds I don’t look at those things. I just want to make the tournament, I don’t care what seed we are, where we go, how we play. I won a national championship when we were in Seattle. I just want to play great basketball the way we’re playing right now, and the rest will take care of itself on Selection Sunday. Our fans can get on a plane wherever we go.”

Both St. John’s and UConn will be part of March Madness, that is certain, and even if St. John’s beats the Huskies two or three times and captures all of the conference trophies, UConn could still be the higher seed based on its performance in the nonconference schedule. That shouldn’t be lost on anyone.

Winning this game, sweeping UConn would “mean everything,” St. said John’s forward Bryce Hopkins, who transferred from Providence. “I’ve never won a Big East regular season championship, maybe this is the year.”

Hurley and the Huskies, while they have done their best work in the postseason, value the Big East regular season title for its own sake.

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“In the end, we’re going to be judged on March performance,” Hurley said. “As unfair as that is to coaches who put forth monster regular seasons on top of each other. In the end, all anyone is going to talk about is what you did in March Madness. That’s just the nature of our sport. But the true testament to a team, resilience, fortitude, of a regular season, especially a 20-game Big East regular season, the will of the men involved, the coaches, the players, the mental toughness, the physical toughness, the strength, that’s why the regular season championship is special that way. Somebody can get hot for a couple of days in New York in the Big East Tournament, but (St. John’s) has built a roster that is built real well to play Big East basketball because of the physicality and the rebounding.”

Neither team needs to win Wednesday night, not in the big picture, but the Big East at its very best has never been about the big picture, it’s about nights such as this. That’s the way Dave Gavitt envisioned it.

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