Still feel like last night's loss, albeit nothing short of brutal, was different than the rest. A couple instances of poor execution and bad luck away from a proclamation of one of better wins this century. The energy from the folks who made the trip in support is inspiring. I am feeling hopeful.

Real St. John's fans are as hardened a group as you will find. The instances of devastation have become too numerous to count. I guarantee you this will not do any one of them in.

These “milestones” are such that a lot of programs would scoff at. That is the price you pay for a quarter-century of irrelevance, the most painful of existences in sport. The opportunity is there for St. John’s to finally put it all in the rearview mirror.

Last year’s quarterfinal victory over Seton Hall was Rick’s first true breakthrough at St. John’s. It got lost in the shuffle of the tournament snub, but it was a window the program had been desperate to shatter and was the necessary first step toward something larger.

It is difficult to find a comparable of any recency to the level of opportunity presented to St. John’s with Thursday’s tilt with Baylor. It would not be hyperbole to describe a potential win as a seismic event for the position of the program.

Obviously a long road ahead, but you can already see a clearer path for the league to five tournament bids instead of the shocking three from a year ago, despite the apparent suffocation of the league’s middle.

The team no one has any clue how to assess is Providence, but there’s really no point in doing so until Hopkins returns and shows how he can enhance their effort.

There is more confidence that Xavier (en route to adding a great win over Wake) and St. John’s will join UConn, Creighton and Marquette in the league’s upper tier. Seton Hall seems primed for opposite, but should tread lightly in doubting Holloway’s ability to impose his defensive coaching will.

First fair assessment of teams without leaning heavily on preseason predictives will be after Thanksgiving MTEs, but early returns may suggest the Big East’s “middle” may be less dense than a year ago.

That's right - St. John's is just 1-6 at MSG in November since 2004. Ironically, it's lone win came against Minnesota - coached by Richard Pitino.

This will be just the fifth season in that timeframe the program appears at the Garden before December:
- 2006 (CvC): Maryland (L), Texas (L)
- 2011 (2K): Arizona (L), Texas A&M (L)
- 2014 (NIT): Minnesota (W), Gonzaga (L)
- 2023 (Standalone): Michigan (L)
- 2024 (Standalone): New Mexico (TBD)

The media lead-in today to St. John's first real test Sunday vs. New Mexico had me thinking about the rarity of November games at MSG since 2004 (Norm).

Will share my St. John's and Big East at-large perspectives on here, as it has become increasingly unfriendly to do so on the other platform in recent years. Welcoming of fair and honest interaction.