Traditionally speaking, Fridays rarely mattered in college basketball’s regular season once college football concluded (unless, of course, you’re an Ivy League graduate, in which case, I offer my congratulations).
But that’s not completely true anymore.
After WWE Smackdown moved from Fox to USA Network earlier this year, Fox executives opted to fill that Friday night hole in the schedule with college basketball. I’m not qualified enough to know whether that’s smart or dumb for the network, profitable or costly, a sign of things to come or just a temporary deal — but it’s definitely been fun for college basketball fans, who now have something relevant to turn on each Friday.
And this Friday, it’s really good.
It’s Big East-leader St. John’s against the back-to-back national champions, the UConn Huskies, inside Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. There are only three active coaches with national championships — Bill Self, Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley — and two of them (Pitino) and Hurley) will be roaming the sidelines in a high-profile game that could theoretically decide the conference title.
“We’re all trying to get to that level of Connecticut,” PItino said last March, just before his program was left out of the NCAA Tournament.
Now, his program is approaching that level. The Red Storm are 20-3 overall, 11-1 in the Big East and No. 17 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. UConn remains unranked in the Top 25 And 1 because of a resume featuring just an 8-5 record in the first two quadrants with an additional loss to Colorado falling in Quadrant 3. But, I promise, that’ll change Saturday morning, if the Huskies are able to snap St. John’s nine-game winning streak on Friday night.
UConn is listed as a 3.5-point favorite.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
2
Creighton
4
Maryland
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