NEW YORK — As bracket-bluster and championship-week fever rages around them, the Providence College Friars settled into a midtown Manhattan hotel yesterday with a dream in mind.

Entering today’s regular-season finale against St. John’s, the Friars freely admit that they’re currently on the outside looking in during any discussion of the NCAA Tournament. But in the next breath, the Friars insist that that can change. If PC wins today, it would finish 9-7 in the Big East and in no worse than a tie with Villanova, West Virginia and (possibly) Marquette. Each of those teams is firmly in the NCAA discussion, with ’Nova and Marquette seen as locks.

Then the Friars will cool their heels in the Big Apple for a few days and await the start of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday. If PC wins today and grabs a first-round win (most likely against one of those three teams, or DePaul), its record will climb to 20-10. If the Friars then knock off a top seed like Pittsburgh or Georgetown in the quarterfinal round, they’ll have 21 wins, another marquee win on their résumé and clearly be back in the NCAA discussion.

That’s the dream, anyway. Reality starts today with a rematch against a tough, gritty St. John’s club that already owns wins against teams like Notre Dame, Syracuse and DePaul at Madison Square Garden.

“You’re worried about everything this time of the season but our players understand that to go where we want to go, we have to take every step,” said PC coach Tim Welsh. “In order to be in that mix next week, we have to take care of St. John’s first.”

The St. John’s game certainly offers the Friars an awful lot to add to their résumé. First is another win. Welsh has won 19 or more games only twice in his eight years at PC and has won nine or more Big East games three times. Another road win would also be nice for a team that carries a 2-7 mark into Madison Square Garden.

PC has won 10 straight games against the Red Storm, a streak that’s been built at the Garden, at St. John’s campus gymnasium and at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. PC beat SJU on Feb. 17, 71-66, in a game that was not decided until the final two minutes. The Storm, which will play in the Big East tourney for the first time in three years, is not ready to roll over and let the streak grow to 11 games.

Now in his third season in Queens, coach Norm Roberts has a team that’s a bit short on talent but long on toughness and guile.

“We were in the office watching tape when we learned we’d clinched (a spot in the Big East), and we were happy to get in but there’s more games to be played,” Roberts said. “It’s a big step for us. We haven’t been there in a while. We’re still rebuilding but we feel we can do some damage. Beating Providence (today) is the start of the week that we’re looking for.”

Roberts notes that St. John’s hasn’t won seven conference games in a season in four years and certainly needs to snap the PC streak. The fact that the game comes just days before the conference tournament on the same big stage that’ll capture the basketball eyes of the East could help both teams. The only thing missing today will be fans. St. John’s will be hard-pressed to draw more than 5,000.

Welsh wavered on whether to return to Rhode Island after today’s game and then bus back to New York on Tuesday. After meeting with his players, he decided everyone would be better off holed up in the city for a while.

“We’ve had a lot of travel lately and we can just stay focused down there,” said Welsh. “We’re on break in Providence so no one’s around. I talked about it with Herb (Hill) and Chuck (Burch) and they’re all for staying down. We’re a close group so we’ll do a few extra things on Monday and then get ready for the tournament.”

kmcnamar@projo.com