UConn's Big East Rival Earns Huge Take That Should Worry Dan Hurley

The UConn Huskies have generally been the most highly-regarded team in the Big East for the last several decades. Yes, they took a seven-year detour in the American Athletic Conference, but they have always been synonymous with Big East basketball.

Back in the late '90s and early 2000s, though, UConn had a fierce rival that was competing with the Huskies for conference supremacy: the St. John's Red Storm.

For a while, St. John's went dormant, making just three NCAA Tournament appearances between 2003 and 2024. However, now that Rick Pitino is running the show, the Red Storm have re-emerged as a national power and actually swept UConn this past season en route to winning the Big East title.

After winning back-to-back national championships, the Huskies now have a true nemesis to contend with, and so long as Pitino is on board, St. John's isn't going anywhere.

The Red Storm have made that very clear this offseason, nabbing some very impressive prospects in the transfer portal over the last couple of months.

Pitino's haul was so eye-catching, as a matter of fact, that Tobias Bass of The Athletic has listed St. John's among the biggest winners of the portal.