Syracuse, St. John’s to Resume Basketball Rivalry Post-Big East

The battle for Empire State bragging rights will survive the carnage of conference realignment for at least two more seasons.

Syracuse and St. John’s  have agreed to continue their annual meeting(s) in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, both schools announced Wednesday. The two New York-based programs — separated by 250 miles and a jaunt through New Jersey — will play a home-and-home series during the non-conference season. The Red Storm will host the Orange at Madison Square Garden first on Dec. 15, 2013. The date for the rematch at the Carrier Dome the following season has yet to be determined.

Two of the seven charter members of the Big East, Syracuse and St. John’s have shared in a rivalry more than a century old. The series dates back to 1912, long before the two schools helped form the Big East in 1979. Both programs rank in the Top 10 in college basketball history in total wins and winning percentage.

It’s unclear whether Syracuse will try to resume its series with Georgetown, the program’s flagship rival since the formation of the Big East. With SU on its way to the ACC next season and Georgetown among seven non-football schools to announce its intentions of forming a new league, the two schools would have to agree to a similar non-conference series, as Louisville and Kentucky and Marquette and Wisconsin, for example, hold each season.

The Hoyas have been mired in a lengthy impasse with Maryland in basketball for the last two decades, so the Beltway-area school doesn’t seem like the type to compromise. Georgetown and Maryland haven’t met in basketball since 1993, and provided the Terps honor this threat, they won’t in any sport henceforth until a resolution on the hardwood is made.