A year ago, the Big East was UConn's league and college basketball's mountaintop was claimed by Dan Hurley. The man was in the process of solidifying his Hall of Fame credentials by guiding an all-time-great Huskies team to a sweep of Big East championships and a 37-3 record while clinching  an accomplishment for eventual inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame: back-to-back national titles.

St. John's basketball is ascended to new, long-awaited heights under Rick Pitino, who gave an honest take about his team Sunday.

“I will not take any other college job. I can assure you of that,” Pitino told The Post before the 10th-ranked Johnnies practiced at the Garden ahead of Sunday’s showdown against Connecticut. “It’s St. John’s, retirement, EuroLeague, [live in] Miami — not university.” Pitino has led a St. John’s renaissance this year.