The Holiday Festival would become relevant again, and could be a two day tournament again, if we agree to continue to play 'Cuse. (Something our fans bitch about, but which Monasch and Lavin have said they want to do. Boeheim too).
Day 1: St. John's v MAAC team, Syracuse v. A-10
Day 2: Consolation and Championship (which most years ends up being St Johns v Syracuse)
Rotate the two invited teams among the MAAC/A-10/North East/Colonial/America East (think Iona, Siena, Hofstra, Fordham etc)
No team wants to schedule two tough games right before conference play, that's why in-season tournaments have faded.
Huggins and WVU will agree to play Michigan this weekend, and use the trip to help recruit the area; but if he had to play another BCS team the following day .. I doubt he'd do it.
MSG would do this because they would have near sell outs for two days, and they could truthfully bill it as a battle for bragging rights in NY.
Syracuse would do it in a heart beat because their alumni are clamoring for more games in NYC.
SJU gets to keep a traditional rival, earns headlines if we win with little downside if we lose... and just as importantly; we get a built in quality non-conference game every year ('Cuse), without having to ever travel. Unlike trying to schedule with a Duke or UCLA who require a home/away arrangement, and risk the odd year when those teams have trouble scheduling us because their own conferences have 28 league games now.
I know not everybody likes playing Syracuse; but if SJU were to make them a permanent invitee to the Holiday Festival it would make that tournament relevant again and maintain a true rivalry in an era when there aren't many left.
Couldn't do this before, because most conferences frown on their teams playing each other outside of the regular season, but with 'Cuse gone to the ACC it presents an opportunity.
Sorry if this is long winded, and I know I've said it before. But, it's a pet peeve of mine. In the future we may not have games with UCONN, Rutgers, ND, etc it'd be nice to maintain a marquee non-conference rival.