On the court at Madison Square Garden. (Photo Courtesy: Reed Becker)
I recently had the opportunity of a lifetime to cover the first three sessions of the 2023 Big East Basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It all started on Wednesday, March 8th. While the first game was not until 3 pm, I got there early since the press conference to present the Big East awards was at 12:30 pm. I entered MSG through where the media entrance was located. Once I picked up my credential, I took the elevator up to the fifth floor where the media lounge and basketball court are. At first, it was very overwhelming since I was in a big arena and had no idea where I was going. Luckily the security guards were friendly and helped me find my way. The media floor was broken into different sections in the bowels of the arena in a long old hallway. Each room was blocked off by big black curtains, where one room was a large room for media members to sit and watch the games on television and do their work. There was another room where all the media guides and box scores were located, along with food for the press to eat.
I ran into John Fanta, who covers the Big East for Fox Sports, whom I know from previous encounters. John was very helpful and even walked me down to the Theater at Madison Square Garden to where the press conference to give out the awards was being held. Suddenly, I noticed that all the award-winning players and coaches were sitting within feet of me. In addition, the entire Marquette team was in attendance and sat to the right of where I was since the recipients of Coach of the Year (Shaka Smart) and Player of the Year (Tyler Kolek) are both on their team. The other awards that were announced were the Big East Media award, which went to legendary broadcaster for Fox and CBS, Bill Raftery, Freshman of the Year, which went to Cam Whitmore of Villanova and the Big East Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which went to Jack Nunge of Xavier. After that was all done, they did not hold a typical press conference but instead went right into one-on-one interviews with the media and players. I went right for Tyler Kolek and was able to ask him a few questions after the New England media finished talking to him.
Marquette Team. (Photo Courtesy: Reed Becker)
Tyler Kolek receiving award. (Photo Courtesy: Reed Becker)
After the media availability concluded, I made my way back to the fifth floor to head out to the court before the general public arrived. It was silent other than for a production meeting that was taking place, which made it very surreal and special. Whenever you think of the Garden, you think of all the history that has taken place on the court or ice. To be standing right down there without the loud crowd noise that overwhelms the arena was special and powerful to say the least and was a moment to take in for sure. To think of all the history that has taken place on that court and the players that have stepped foot on the court like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry, made it more of a privilege to be on the same floor as those legends. But in just a couple more hours, the arena was going to be packed with loud cheering fans, further enhancing the experience.
When I finally made my way up to the press area on the Chase Bridge on the tenth floor, I grabbed a seat at midcourt as it was on a first-come, first-served basis. The Chase Bridge is located near the top of the arena, but right over the court, and is also where the broadcast booths are located for hockey. Broadcasting greats such as Kenny Albert, Marv Albert, Doc Emerick, and Rangers Hall of Fame announcer Sam Rosen have all worked up there.
The tournament kicked off on Wednesday at 3 pm, with the first matchup being between Butler and St. John’s. St. John’s defeated Butler 76-63 in a game that was not particularly close. After the game, I made my way down to the fifth floor into the press conference room where we heard from St. John’s first, followed by Butler. While each school’s Sports Information Directors were in attendance, the press conferences were run by John Paquette, the Senior Associate Commissioner, and Sports Media Relations for the Big East Conference. Typically, we would have to wait a few minutes after the game for the teams to enter since Fox Sports had priority to interview the coach and players after the games. What caught my attention from the Butler press conference was how deflated their mood was since their season was over and they were not going to make the NCAA tournament. Butler made head coach Thad Matta and Simas Lukosius available to us, and it was impactful when Lukosius talked about how he felt bad for the seniors since that was their last time playing college ball. You can also actually feel and see how these players are just student-athletes at the end of the day, as he also spoke about how he is studying sports media and walked out with a backpack just like a normal college student. For the most part, these press conferences ran over into the start of the next games, so you definitely had to try to catch up on what you missed when you got back to your seat.
The next game was a wild one with a controversial ending between DePaul and Seton Hall. The game went back and forth, and Seton Hall led by five points with sixteen seconds remaining in regulation. However, the Pirates gave up an easy layup, then turned the ball over on an inbounds play, which led to them fouling a three-point shooter. DePaul hit all three foul shots to put the Blue Demons up one point with four seconds remaining. Seton Hall’s Femi Odukale had an open layup opportunity to win on the next possession for the Pirates, but his shot was blocked by DePaul’s Nick Ongenda at the buzzer. Originally it was called goaltending, which would have given the Pirates the win, but they reviewed it and determined it was a clean block to give DePaul the win. This loss for Seton Hall killed any NCAA Tournament hopes they had as they were on the bubble and will now have to settle for an NIT Tournament bid.
The press conference for Seton Hall felt very uncomfortable as they only made head coach Shaheen Holloway available in the press conference room. Right away, you could tell Holloway was extremely upset and at a loss for words with what had just transpired. I decided to stay out of this one and not ask any questions as I could tell Holloway was not in a good mood. This was a good experience, though, because it shows how you must be very careful with how you word questions and when you choose to ask certain questions. Sometimes, some questions may not be appropriate to ask at sensitive times, and you do not want to word a question where it could be perceived to be criticizing or attacking a player or coach. After Holloway finished, Seton Hall made their locker room available for the media to talk to the players. That was another tough situation to be in, but also a good experience because when I walked in, it was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. The media only talked to a select few of the players, which left the rest of the team sitting on their phones in silence.
The last game on Wednesday was Georgetown-Villanova, which Villanova won in a blowout. I made the mistake of waiting too long to go down to the press conference room after the game since the elevator at MSG is not the greatest and often skipped our floor. There were also times when you had to squeeze yourself into the elevator because you were either with the general public or other workers rolling around big boxes of beer or other concession food. I wound up getting to the press conference room by fighting through the general public and going down the escalator, which got me there in the middle of the Villanova press conference.
What stood out to me was when Georgetown had their press conference, they only made head coach Patrick Ewing available. I found this press conference very uncomfortable and awkward since Georgetown had a dreadful year, going 7-25 overall and 2-18 in conference play. It was widely speculated that the legendary Ewing was going to lose his job. I also thought the media members were beating a dead horse with their questions since there did not seem much to ask other than, “why were you guys terrible?” I desperately wanted to ask a question since it was a Hall of Famer in Ewing, but I opted not to since I did not feel there was anything to ask that was insightful.
Once the press conference ended, I made my way onto the middle of the court to record a recap of the whole day. Going onto the court after all the games when it was now quiet, other than the workers in the arena cleaning up garbage, was surreal once again. To think that just an hour ago the building was as loud as can be with screaming fans and being able to be standing where the controversial block took place in the DePaul game was breathtaking. When I walked up and down the court, I could hear the rickety cracks of the hardwood going back and forth, as well as a smell like any ordinary gym floor in a school or YMCA but that just happened to be in the World’s Most Famous Arena.
The last game on Wednesday ended a little after 10 pm, with the press conferences ending at 10:30 pm. Once I was done on the court, I left the arena at 11 pm and did not go to bed until after midnight.
I woke up the next morning at 7:45 am and got to MSG at 10 am to do it all over again. When I got upstairs to the Chase Bridge, it was dead silent other than the sound of some basketballs bouncing on the court. Looking out to the court and seeing the big scoreboard that said “Madison Square Garden” was an honor to witness and something I do not take lightly.
The first game on Thursday’s quarterfinals was St. John’s-Marquette, which was surprisingly a great game considering that St. John’s was a big underdog coming in against top-seeded Marquette. The Red Storm led for a lot of the game early on, but Marquette came back to force overtime, and Marquette wound up winning 72-70. St. John’s had plenty of opportunities to win and very well should have won. I asked Marquette player Oliver-Maxence Prosper a question after the game at their press conference. Shortly after that, I made my way to the St. John’s locker room, where I interviewed their star player, Posh Alexander. I could easily tell that their locker room was very upset, although Alexander did a good job of answering the questions after a tough loss, which can sometimes be tricky. I did notice, though, when I was asking a question someone in the back shouted a lot of curse words out of frustration, which caught me off guard.
The next game was considered the game of the day between Providence and UConn. UConn led 35-19 at halftime and was up by twenty-six points with twelve minutes remaining in regulation. However, Providence made a comeback, cutting the lead to as little as five points at the 3:33 mark of the second half. But the Huskies held on to defeat the Friars in a wild game. The crowd was evenly split between Providence and UConn supporters, as it felt like every time a basket was scored, the arena exploded. It was so loud that I had a horrendous headache once the game ended, and this game was easily the loudest I heard MSG out of the two days I was there. When the game ended, I made my way to the press conference room, where I was able to ask both UConn coach Dan Hurley and Providence coach Ed Cooley a question. There was one funny moment during the UConn press conference when Hurley was talking and the reporter sitting next to me had a noise go off on his phone and failed to try to turn it off. They had to stop the press conference to tell the guy to turn it off and put his phone on vibrate. This led to Hurley then interjecting and asking what ringtone that was. The whole exchange received laughter from the other media members. This was a nice break from some of the very tense press conferences earlier in the tournament.
The third game of the day was DePaul-Xavier, which was another great one. DePaul dominated early on and for most of the game, they were up by as much as ten points. However, Xavier came back and took the lead with 2:30 remaining in regulation and went on to win 89-84. I was able to ask a question to both Xavier head coach Sean Miller and DePaul head coach Tony Stubblefield during the post-game press conference. By this time, I was no longer nervous about asking questions, and I thought both coaches engaged with me with thoughtful answers.
The last game on Thursday was Villanova-Creighton. Creighton looked like the better team for most of the game but allowed Villanova to make it interesting late. The Bluejays wound up winning 87-74. I made sure to give myself extra time this time to get down to the press conference room since it was the last game of the night, and the general public would be leaving the arena. I asked Creighton coach Mike McDermott a question but decided not to ask Villanova a question since they had a tough loss that would knock them off the bubble for the NCAA tournament.
After the last press conference, I made my way back out to the court to record my recap of the quarterfinals. Then I stayed a little longer to take it all in one last time. To think again that there were four different games played on this court where the crowd was deafening, especially during the Providence-UConn game and now it was dead silent other than the workers fixing chairs and picking up garbage. I took one last walk up and down the rickety, smelly court and then left Madison Square Garden.
While it was definitely an incredible experience, it is not always as glamorous as some may think. There are a lot of long days and late nights when doing this. For example, I did not leave the arena until 11 pm on Wednesday night and did not go to bed until after midnight. The last game on Thursday did not end until midnight which meant that I did not leave the arena until 1 am and then did not go to bed until 2 am. In addition, the reporters that were there on deadlines with articles that needed to be posted could make it stressful and even longer hours. There was also a situation on Wednesday where they had no food or drinks for the press other than candy and coffee for many hours until sometime during the second game, which started at 5:30 pm.
Overall, this was a great experience, and I learned so much. For example, if you have a question to ask in a press conference setting, you must be aggressive because they only take a few questions before they end it. You also need to be careful and sensitive about how you phrase a question because you do not want to appear to be criticizing the player or coach, but you also must do your job and ask the questions that need to be asked. It can be a tough balancing act sometimes, especially after a team has a tough loss. I experienced this when Seton Hall lost to DePaul and when St. John’s lost to Marquette. Lastly, I experienced how sometimes it can be hectic trying to get to the press conference room after a game, especially if the game is close and you have to wait for an elevator that is slow or fight through the general public.