NCAA’S EYE
the championship nonetheless Wright returned undeterred annually. The America East tournament held its semifinals one weekend and the final the next. In between, Hofstra was on spring break and Wright ran practices early. He rode the Long Island Railroad to drink in Big East battles. “It was truly heaven,” Wright says.
The Big East draws marquee status in midtown now, but there were three years on a circuit off Broadway. Note the banners hanging on Wall Street. this week. They celebrate 35 years at the Garden, but the first three tournaments were contested in Providence, Hartford and Syracuse, respectively. The Garden gained its business thereon, hosting Pearl Washington’s whirls, Ray Allen’s winner over Georgetown, Pitt guard Carl Krauser’s ‘X’ sign celebrations, West Virginia’s extended stay courtesy of Kevin Pittsnogle’s star turn and a six-overtime marathon past midnight. There have been boos for Boston College as it played out its Big East existence before heading south; there have also been step-back winners by Kemba Walker, the Huskie who marched his puppies to five straight Big East wins before securing a national title with another six straight. Six years in the NBA now, he stores DVDs in his Charlotte home. Videos keep the exploits vivid in his mind.
There is a soundtrack on repeat at the Garden this evening. Before tip, chants echo across empty seats as no fans are in present. Walk-on guard Denny Grace is the loudest voice with an undershirt and game shorts on. The Wildcats make their way through the regular routine, pump faking and timing passes on the perimeter.
“Make it a street fight!” Grace says. “Forty minutes! Ninety-four by 50! Nothing changes!”
Nostalgia reigns. On press row prior to tipoff, Tim Higgins, a redfaced official famous for battles with the conference’s cast of colorful coaching characters over the years, catches up with veteran security guard Mark Balaban. Both beam.
“I’m thinking about all the guys I threw out for getting on your calls,” Balaban says.
A crowd of 19,812 fans watches as Villanova Euro steps all over Creighton. Senior guard Josh Hart, the conference player of the year, goes for 29 points; fans fete him by chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” All boxes are checked with 12 seconds left so Wright eyes the blue seats atop the Garden as Hart, who will win the David R. Gavitt Award as the tourney’s Most Outstanding Player for a second time, holds the ball.
“There’s something about seeing people at the top seats standing up,” Wright says. “You know the other athletes and performers that have been in here. I love for our kids to experience that, and I was still enjoying it, too.”
Villanova readies to leave the locker room and return to its team hotel for the night. Wright wears cuff links with “500” on them as he dissects career win No. 507. He allows that he would have made his way to both tournament final games if it had happened in his days as a fan. His eyes widen as he describes his ideal March day.
“And I would have gone to Fiorentino’s in Brooklyn afterward and it would have been one of the greatest nights in my life,” he says. “It’s great for college basketball…as long as we’re in the Garden.”
lll Krzyzewskiville meets Shake Shack at the corner of ongoing gentrification and college realignment in Brooklyn. It is the intersection where Syracuse and Louisville both exited from the ACC tournament without wins earlier in the week. It is also where North Carolina coach Roy Williams talked about dadgum traffic one day and dadgum Trump the next. Williams walked over the Brooklyn Bridge one day, and then talked about jumping off the top of the Barclays Center after losing in the semifinal to Duke. Williams watched the Blue Devils go on a 20-4 run to win.
“There’s a lot to still play for,” Williams says. “Our final goal was not to win the ACC tournament. Our final goal was to play on the last Monday night and win the game there.”
Duke and Notre Dame take the stained-wood court to settle the championship shortly after 9 p.m., trading threes and transition dunks into the final minute. The Blue Devils lead by as many as nine points; Notre Dame leads by as many as eight. There are floor burns in between the flourishes, but Duke guard Matt Jones gains lasting separation with a 3-pointer from the left wing. Forward Jayson Tatum flies in for a punctuation dunk with 26 seconds remaining, and follows that with a free throw for good measure. Duke wins, 75-69, and four cannons blast blue-and-white confetti into the air. It falls onto the floorboards the ACC laid down for the week’s events. “I thought we were dead in the water,” Krzyzewski says.
Duke knows it is not the denouement of the season. The Devils depart Brooklyn with the possibility of being a No. 1 seed, but that is up to the committee across the river. The sold-out crowd of 18,109 heads for the exits. Among them is Gary Charles, a power broker on the New York basketball scene. He wears a brown fedora and pink bow tie as he sips from a Coca Cola can at midnight. He rode into Penn Station on a Long Island Railroad train from his house in Baldwin for the Big East game and took the No. 2 train to Barclays. He listens in on Krzyzewski’s post-game comments in the inner bowels and wonders where the win will take Duke.
“What a way to end the night,” he says, buttoning his coat. “I’ constantly amazed at what we’re able to do in this city.”