It was Friday night at the Big East Tournament, and it was fair to wonder when Villanova would be back

NEW YORK — It was the Friday night of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden, and there wasn’t a better show in town.

The first of the two semifinals had Dan Hurley’s top-seeded Connecticut Huskies, the reigning national champion, against Rick Pitino’s reinvigorated St. John’s Red Storm. And the game had everything.

There was Hurley, 11 minutes into the game, skipping around the court and waving his arms after Pitino called timeout to try to stop a 13-4 UConn run. The Huskies’ fiery coach, the new king of the Big East, was only just beginning the antics. It was a Friday night in New York City, just off Broadway.

Less than a minute of game play later, Pitino got called for a technical foul, one he later said he wanted to get, and there was his friend, Tom O’Grady, sitting courtside next to the St. John’s bench in a plaid coat getting in the mix. O’Grady gestured toward Hurley, apparently telling the officials he was out of the coach’s box, and you don’t tell Dan Hurley what to do these days. So there was Hurley, not backing down, receiving a technical foul of his own. But two against one isn’t fair, so there was Bob Hurley, Dan’s father, the legendary New Jersey high school coach, sitting next to the UConn bench. No one would have complained if they paused the game, lowered a cage, and rung the bell.

The pro-Huskies crowd inside the home of the Johnnies loved every bit of it.

The teams traded blows for a while Friday night, combining for 99 first-half points en route to 185 — the most in a Big East Tournament game in a decade — before the best team in the league, and arguably the best in the country, pulled away late.

It had just about everything, but what the game didn’t have was any sign of Villanova.

» READ MORE: Villanova and Kyle Neptune have to figure out what kind of program they want to be

For the second straight Friday night at the Big East Tournament, the Wildcats were back home, bounced from the event, bounced from NCAA Tournament contention barring some sort of divine intervention from the Augustinians. And it was fair to wonder at times, as you watched the sellout crowd buzz mostly with Connecticut fans, where Villanova fits in all of this right now.

Two years into the Kyle Neptune era at Villanova has yielded a 35-32 record and no NCAA Tournament appearances.

Villanova started this season 6-1, the lone blip coming vs. Penn, but the Wildcats earned wins over tournament teams like North Carolina and Texas Tech. It closed the season 12-14 with losses to Drexel, Kansas State, Butler, Xavier, all teams that won’t be going dancing next week. You can add St. Joseph’s to the list pending this weekend’s results in Brooklyn.

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The resumé was what it was. Villanova went 2-6 against the three Big East semifinalists. It’s your prototypical NIT resumé. There were a few weeks where Villanova looked like it was ready to prove that status wrong, but the Wildcats closed the meaningful portion of the season with losses in three of their last four games. So Sunday will almost certainly mark 20 years since the last time a second straight Selection Sunday went by without the Wildcats getting their seed and travel itinerary.

Jay Wright missed the NCAA Tournament in his first three seasons, but made it in all but one of the following 18 seasons (the Wildcats would’ve made the canceled 2020 event).

The first part of the previous sentence is where a patient Villanova fan will point. But that patience and historical context ignores the reality of this current NCAA and Big East landscape. It’s not hyperbole to say Villanova is in danger of falling to the back of the Big East pack quickly.

Start with the talent. How many Villanova players not named Eric Dixon or Justin Moore would have seen serious minutes on any of the four teams playing Friday night? One? Two? It’s a relevant question because Moore is out of eligibility and Dixon is unlikely to return.

Things can change quickly with the combination of the transfer portal and Villanova’s NIL offerings, but given the inconsistent play from the four transfers Neptune brought in after his first season, it’s fair to wonder how impactful that path will be. The Wildcats’ three 2024 recruits are talented, but none are projected to be major, needle-moving pieces in their freshman seasons. And all of this is without considering the possibility Villanova loses players from its current roster to the portal.

» READ MORE: Is Eric Dixon the last vestige of the Villanova Way? Villanova hopes not.

It will be a fascinating offseason on the Main Line for several reasons. Perhaps Villanova will play the patient game, stick to the Villanova Way, and hope that it finds its way, a choice that could result in a few lean years ahead.

Maybe all of this is an overreaction. The Wildcats were, after all, a few possessions in a few different games away from being a tournament team. They were a missed shot away from playing Friday night. But it’s a results-oriented business, and you are what your record says. In a conference built on big-name coaches and big-time talent, it was unclear Friday night where Villanova fits into the current puzzle.

It was semifinal night at Madison Square Garden, and Villanova was back in Radnor, 105 miles never feeling so far away.