Patrick Ewing played at the Garden, beginning with four Big East tournaments and continuing with the Knicks for 15 seasons. Today’s players know him as the man they were trying to defeat as a head coach at Georgetown, and were often successful.
Chris Mullin played at the Garden, winning the Big East tournament title for St. John’s and with an MVP trophy. Today’s players may know him as the coach of Alma Mater for four seasons until 2018, when it was clear that things were not moving forward yet.
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Those days were long ago. Ali-Frazier’s “Fight of the Century” took place 50 years ago this week. The Nucks are only emerging this season from nearly two decades of incompetence. The Rangers have not won the Stanley Cup since 1994.
Will Madison Square Garden of New York City possibly still hold the same spell for young players to compete in the 2021 Big East tournament? Is it still “Mecca?”
“A dream come true,” St. John’s Julian Champagnie, whose team opens at 3pm on Thursday afternoon, will play Seton Hall in the quarter-finals, told Sporting News.
Some things do not change in reputation, even if they make cosmetic adjustments. The record business can put “Abbey Road” on vinyl, cassette, CD or iPhone, and still the simple genius of “The End” can leave a breath in 2 minutes, 5 seconds.
The Garden underwent a significant renovation in 2013, making it more enjoyable to visit, but it was terrible at first. I have never spoken to anyone who used to play in the garden, coaching there or covering as a writer or broadcaster, who did not feel it was there compared to any other field. Just a little more amazing – although the inviting amenities may be in a new building, the attractive architecture may be in a gym built decades ago. The halls behind the athletes and entertainers have photographs on the walls, which have appeared in the gardens, but they are not necessary for history to make their presence felt.
The Big East tournament moved to the Providence Civic Center, Syracuse in 1983 after rotating in its first three years from the Career Dome and the Hartford Civic Center, and the decision made the event a showcase that has become permanent.
When the “new” Big East was breaking away from football-playing schools, including the American Athletic Conference in 2013, Big East administrators paid a lot of money to assure the contract to play their tournament at the Garden. with.
Organizing a tournament in the Garden means different things to athletes from different backgrounds. Champagni is a New Yorker who was born in Staten Island, attended high school at Bishop Laughlin, Brooklyn, and now attends college in Queens. He recalls his disappointment at being handed over to play the Catholic League tournament at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym while the Public League Championship was held at the Garden.
“After I committed here, it was something I was really looking forward to,” Champagne said. “Growing up, I dreamed of playing in the garden.
“This conference was where a lot of professionals and a lot of special athletes came through, and that’s what I want to do.”
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Xavier freshman guard Dwayne Odom did not thrive around garden mythology. The Knicks were a terrific team. He is from Alpha, Gata, so he has some excellent conferences between his home and the Big East.
He has been around the Big East for a long time – about five months – to understand what’s coming. The Musketeers play on Wednesday nights in the first round of the Big East tournament. Even the day before the tipoff, Odom told SN that he was already starting to realize what was coming.
“I’m kind of nervous, but more excited. It just seems like a big opportunity to be able to step on that big stage, ”Odom said. “This is something new that I have never done before. Playing at Madison Square Garden, the spotlight remains on you and your team, and you have to be ready to perform at a high level. A lot of people are watching, and you are expected to take part in a show. “
It wouldn’t be like the Big East tournament of the Tours or the 90s, or like 00 or two years ago. Due to the linding epidemic, the discussion will disappear from the audience, as energetic scenes of ticket holders walk out of the yellow cab on 7th Avenue and walk towards the building.
Neither would it be like a year ago, however, when the first-round games were played on March 11 and St. John’s and Creighton played half of their quarterfinal the next day, before the game was abandoned and sent home. .
Where they stayed for a long time.
They are now back in the Garden. And the Garden is as it ever was.
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