Perhaps more than any other Big East team in the last couple of years, St. John's has consistently been able to make UConn work for victories.

Two years St. John's was within seven points at the midway point of the second half thanks in large part to the brilliance of then freshman Da'Shena Stevens, who finished with 27 points in a 77-64 loss to the Huskies.

Last season, freshman Nadirah McKenith had 15 points and 11 rebounds as St. John's only trailed by six in the final minute of the first half before falling 66-52.

In the eyes of UConn coach Geno Auriemma, you only have to look as far as his coaching counterpart to see why the Red Storm is having success.

"I think Kim has done an absolutely incredible job down there going from where it was to where it is without necessarily getting big, high-profile recruits either," Auriemma said. "She's gotten a lot of local kids, a lot of good players and they have done a phenomenal job of putting themselves in a situation when every year now they are a ranked team, an NCAA, Sweet 16 kind of team. I think it's got a lot of people energized down there both with that they are doing and what the men are doing. At one time people are looking at St. John's and saying they will never be back. You have two programs that are factors."

Barnes Arico's relationship with Auriemma is not as highly-touted as the one he has with Villanova's Harry Perretta, Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame or DePaul's Doug Bruno but it is clear that the two have a tremendous amount of mutual respect.

"The thing about him and I promise you I appreciate it more every single year is the ability to be consistent and to be as good as he is every year," Barnes Arico said. "It is absolutely phenomenal. it blows my mind. A while ago when I first got into the league and we started to do well, he said it is easy to get there but hard to stay there and I said 'I am not even paying attention to you because all I want to do is get there. I'll worry about staying there if I get there.

"He believes that every time he walks on the court, he is going to win that game. He's had those kids so confident. They go into every game regardless of who is (playing), they go in believing they'll win that game. That's a credit to him and what's he been able to accomplish. He is truly unbelievable. I am amazed by what he has done. I remember a couple years ago, they had a 'down' year and people got on him. I said 'are you guys serious right now, look at what he's accomplished.' And boom, he got it back. It's a credit to him. He is the best."