NEW YORK – Part of the lure and attraction of this great tournament, the NIT, is what happens behind the scenes. It’s New York and never dull.
Here is a look at this year from train to Garden floor. Granted, it’s a plug for NJ Transit, but they were on time round trip and got me safely to and from both days.
- I arrive at 5:01 p.m. on Tuesday and see the first UMass shirt in the crowd. Right place, set to go.
- On Tuesday about an hour before game time, Steve Lappas, Art Hyland and myself are chatting down on the Garden floor. Steve, a former Villanova and UMass coach, is covering the NIT for Westwood One radio. Art has been the officiating supervisor in the Big East for 33 years. “Art I wasn’t that much of a pain in the ass at Villanova was I?” Lappas asks. ”Steve,” art replies, “you were a big pain in the ass.” Laughter unites the two that formerly “clashed” over officiating when Lappas roamed the ‘Nova sidelines in the latter part of the Nineties.
- Hyland is assigning the officials at the NIT Final Four. He goes on to tell about the Big East in the ‘80s when the coaches were icons. “You had Louie (Carnesecca) at St. John’s,” he recalled, “John Thompson at Georgetown, (Jim) Boeheim at Syracuse, Rollie (Massimino) at Villanova, every night it seemed the officials were working for a coaching legend or two.” A time, those of us fortunate enough to cover the Big East in those days, can look back on as vintage years.
- UMass has brought a huge contingent of fans, band, cheerleaders and two baton twirlers. More schools are having their twirlers perform at basketball games which is a good thing to see. I decide to get more information as my wife Karen is a former high school twirler maintaining an avid interest in it today. Turns out the UMass twirlers perform during timeouts and not at halftime. I ask the inevitable question: do you twirl with fire? “I like to,” says Jackie a sophomore. “It’s neat except sometimes you get a little burn on your arm.” The UMass twirling duo did not have fire at the Garden. But they were very talented.
- Favorite signs among the many UMass fans brought to New York: “Chaz for chancellor” and “Stanford was my safety school”. UMass and Stanford engaged in a competitive contest, one that captivated even fans of the teams in game two.
- After the UMass-Stanford game, a tough setback for the Minutemen, heading to the press room, see the UMass players posing with a gentleman. Asked the cheer coach who it was. “Victor Cruz,” she said. “Holy ‘excrement’ I am a Giants fan,” was my reply. I got a chance to meet with Cruz and speak a few minutes. The ice breaker was that he played in the New Jersey State Football Tournament for Paterson Catholic against my St. Mary’s (Rutherford) alma mater. We briefly discussed his incredible rise from just making the team to stardom. Cruz humbly remarked, “oh man it’s just been a crazy (in a good way) year.”
- A good portion of the crowd seems to exit following the first game. Those staying saw a good one as Minnesota edged Washington in overtime to advance to the finals.
- Thursday after the train ride into Penn Station, I stopped for a newspaper. At the stand, I ran into Mike Roberts, who was one of the officials with the honor of working the championship. We discussed officiating a few minutes before Roberts had to check in for pre-game meeting with his officiating crew.
- The Minnesota dance team limbers up about 40 minutes prior to tip off. On their “off day” they visited Ground Zero, SOHO, Times Square… To their dismay they did miss Tiffany and co. Have to give the team credit for knowing their basketball as they all were aware that coach Tubby Smith’s first name is actually Orlando.
- On the floor before the game, I met Joe Esposito through Fran Fraschilla of ESPN. Esposito is a director of operations on the Minnesota staff. He enjoys working with Tubby Smith but confesses that he wants to be a head coach some day. A Marist grad who roomed with Rik Smits as an undergrad, Esposito adds, “Coaching at Marist would be my dream job.” Dreams are great, but for the present working with Smith and being in an NIT final is not a bad reality.
- The Minnesota band is near me getting on Stanford’s Andrew Zimmerman as he warms up. I mention to one band member how Zimmerman looks like Ashton Kutcher on Two and a Half Men before he shaved his beard. The band member replied that the band members saw Charley Sheen on the Today Show earlier in the morning.
- The band is a nice group with a lot of enthusiasm the band even granted a request of yours truly from their play list. Ok, it was “Gimmee some lovin” a classic hit by the Spencer Davis Group a few decades back.
- Pre-game spoke with Dennis Allocco, the alternate official on the game. Dennis lives nearby, has attended officiating camp with and also assigns a few games to yours truly. “We are probably the only guys not at our (Board 33 officiating) banquet tonight,” Dennis joked. I went on to mention that we are at the only place you would want to be on this evening. Dennis agreed. It is quite an honor to be an alternate on this game, and in Dennis’ case, well-deserved.
- That Minnesota band and their followers were to exit the Garden disappointed. Stanford put on a defensive show in winning 75-51. The Cardinal had a small to modest contingent in numbers – in fact the final attendance was just under 5,500 – but they were heard loud and clear in post game celebrations. Stanford players soaked in the moment posing for pictures, cutting down the nets and simply basking in the moment. They cherished the moment and seemed not to want it to end.
This tournament will do that to you. Especially if you emerge with the championship.
