Jeff Van Gundy was back in Providence a month ago, at the place that used to be called the Civic Center when he was working there, a 24-year-old graduate assistant only a year removed from the sidelines at Rochester’s McQuaid Jesuit High.

St. John’s will spend the weekend at that arena, now called Amica Mutual Pavilion, and when they do they’ll see the reason Van Gundy was there: the No. 34 jersey, worn by Friars great Billy Donovan, which was retired to the rafters back on Feb. 15. It didn’t take a lot for Van Gundy’s memories to flood that night. He worked in Providence only one year.

But, man, what a year.

“This is not hyperbole,” Van Gundy says from Los Angeles, where he is the lead assistant to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. “Never has there been as valuable a player as Billy D. And no coach has ever – ever – gotten more out of the talent on his roster, to extract every bit of the strengths out of each individual player.”