UConn Eyes Crucial Statement Win vs. St. John’s as Quad One Opportunities Dwindle
For a team with national championship aspirations, every detail matters-especially when it comes to the NCAA Tournament resume. And for UConn, Friday night’s showdown at Madison Square Garden isn’t just another Big East game. It’s a rare and much-needed Quad One opportunity, only the second of its kind for the Huskies since conference play tipped off eight weeks ago.
That’s the reality of life in the current Big East, where high-end resume-boosters have been surprisingly scarce. And Dan Hurley knows it. The UConn head coach has been vocal about the challenges of building a tournament-ready profile when the conference schedule doesn’t always provide the kind of high-stakes matchups that move the needle with the selection committee.
Hurley’s solution? More control over nonconference scheduling. He’s floated the idea of trimming the Big East schedule from 20 to 18 games, giving programs like his more flexibility to load up on marquee nonleague opponents.
“I was a proponent of 18 conference games,” Hurley said Thursday night, speaking with local reporters. “Just giving people more flexibility based on where their program is at, to be able to schedule in a way that’s more fitting for where their team is at.”
That’s not just a hypothetical. UConn’s aggressive nonconference slate is a big reason why they’re in the mix for a No. 1 seed.
The Huskies racked up early wins over BYU, Illinois, Kansas, and Florida-four of the Big East’s eight Quad One wins before league play even began. Those victories helped UConn hold onto the top resume ranking for weeks, only recently ceding that spot to Arizona.
But since then, the Huskies have been grinding through a schedule light on high-impact games. In league play, they’ve logged seven Quad Two matchups and four in Quad Three. That’s not the kind of resume fuel you want in February when Selection Sunday is looming.
And that’s why Friday’s game against No. 22 St.
John’s is so important. It’s the first of four remaining Quad One chances on UConn’s regular-season slate, with road trips to Butler and Villanova and a home rematch against St.
John’s still to come. As things stand, the Huskies are 22-1 and sit at No. 6 in the NET rankings-still in strong position, but a loss could jeopardize their projected No. 1 seed.
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, the Big East is currently projected to send just three teams to the NCAA Tournament. In a year where the margin for error is razor-thin, every Quad One win matters that much more.
Hurley also touched on the broader challenge facing the conference: getting every program to invest more aggressively in roster building, particularly through NIL. But even beyond that, he emphasized the importance of the league performing better in nonconference play to boost overall metrics like the NET.
“The Big East, it’s obviously getting those teams that aren’t spending their resources on their roster to spend it,” Hurley said. “But also, we’ve got to win our nonconference games.
Everyone’s got to do their part... Winning games are gonna move the needle so that everyone’s coming in with the best possible NET so we’re not just screwing each other’s NET over.
Playing those Quad Threes and Quad Four games in conference are just brutal.”
As for the stakes on Friday, they go beyond national seeding. St.
John’s is right behind UConn in the Big East standings at 10-1, with Villanova also hanging around the top of the table. A win at the Garden would give UConn a two-game cushion and the inside track on the regular-season crown-with the added bonus of hosting the Red Storm later in the season.
“You play the first of two (against St. John’s) on the road, if you can get it now you have a two-game lead and the home game on the back end,” Hurley said. “So you could really put yourself in a great position there two games up.”
In a season where opportunities to impress the selection committee are few and far between, UConn has one in front of them Friday night. It’s the kind of game that can define a season-and potentially solidify the Huskies’ path to a top seed in March.