Dan Hurley, Rick Pitino and the Man in the Red Blazer: An epic Friday at MSG

It felt like the closest you’re going to get to the 1980s Big East on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Like the days of Big John, Rollie Massimino, Lou Carnesecca, a young Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, and even for a brief time at Providence, that Pitino character.

Except on this night, Pitino was still playing one of the lead roles in…