FILE – Rick Pitino speaks after being introduced as St. John’s new men’s NCAA college basketball … [+] head coach at Madison Square Garden in New York, March 21, 2023. St. John’s and Rutgers will play an exhibition game for charity in October to benefit the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund at the V Foundation. Just more than two weeks before the college basketball regular season tips off, new coach Pitino and the revamped Red Storm will host head coach Steve Pikiell and the Scarlet Knights on Oct. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin, File)
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reservedA college basketball game at Arthur Ashe Stadium?
It’s never been done before but St. John’s and Duke could play the first college hoops game in history at the 23,771-seat arena during the 2024-25 season.
“We’re not definite, we’re in negotiations with that,” Red Storm coach Rick Pitino told me Friday evening by phone after Jon Rothstein first reported the news earlier Friday.
The date for the game has not been determined and no contracts have been signed. There is a connection between the school: St. John’s AD Mike Cragg previously served as the Blue Devils Deputy AD and Chief Operating Officer
“I know both teams [St. John’s and Duke] are interested in doing it,” Pitino said of the game. “I know we’ve been in negotiations, but I think the likelihood is more positive than negative.”
Ashe is is the biggest tennis stadium in the world and has only once before hosted a basketball game of any kind. That came in 2008 when the WNBA’s Indiana Fever beat the New York Liberty in a game played in late July, about a month before the U.S. Open where Roger Federer won his fifth straight — and final — title in New York City.
To play a college basketball game under the roof in Ashe in the winter, Pitino said, “Well, first they’ve got to make sure they have heat in the building. I know it’s enclosed but you gotta have heat.”
“Don’t worry, Coach Pitino, there will be plenty of heat,” Patrick McEnroe, an ESPN tennis analyst and former Davis Cup captain, told me by text. “This would be awesome.”
Pitino, the 71-year-old Naismith Hall of Famer, attended his first U.S Open last month when he sat in a private box and saw American Madison Keys and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz advance to the semifinals.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 09: Coco Gauff of the United States celebrates after defeating Aryna … [+] Sabalenka of Belarus in their Women’s Singles Final match on Day Thirteen of the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 09, 2023 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesMiami Heat star Jimmy Butler and Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant both also attended matches to root on eventual champion Coco Gauff and others.
Of course, by the 2024-25 seasno Duke could have Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2024, on its roster unless he chooses UConn instead. And there are definitely some in the basketball world who think UConn has a strong chance.
Asked what a game against Duke at Ashe would say about the brand of St. John’s basketball, Pitino said, “Oh, I don’t know, it all depends on what we do this year. This year has to be a positive year stepping forward and then I think it would be a major step.”
Pitino and his staff added 12 new players including 10 transfers ahead of their first season in Queens.
St. John’s is also looking to play Alabama at Madison Square Garden next season with a return game at Alabama the following season, Pitino confirmed.
“Yes, we are working on that,” Pitino said.
“We’ve just got to find a date and work that out,” a second St. John’s source said.
The Red Storm is also scheduled to play in the 2024 Baha Mar Bahamas Hoops Championship featuring Virginia, Baylor and Tennessee.
But a game against Duke in Arthur Ashe Stadium would surely be the crown jewel on the schedule.
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