If St. John’s and Connecticut didn’t look like a pair of heavyweight combatants sizing each other up before, they certainly have to be after the developments of the past two weeks.

The AP preseason Top 25 was announced last week with UConn at No. 4 and the Red Storm at No. 5 . And Tuesday at the Garden when the Big East held its media day, St. John’s was narrowly picked to win in a poll of the people who know both teams best, the conference’s coaches.

Defending Big East champion St. John’s got seven of 11 first-place votes for 97 points and the Huskies got the other four for 94 points. It’s the first time since 1991-92 that the Storm go into a season as the Big East favorites.

The juxtaposition of national and conference polls made the prospect of their coming battle for the Big East

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