A Wall of an Experience

New York City made me feel like the lucky geek in high school who somehow managed to go out to the prom with the homecoming queen – I was terrified.

Growing up on a 222-acre farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Crozet, Va., having a second traffic light put in was a big deal. I mean, two traffic lights?! Let’s not get too big time now.

Well, New York City has a few more traffic lights than two.

Crossing over the bridges toward Hoboken, N.J., I could see the Empire State Building and the other juggernauts of New York City sitting peacefully, waiting for the night to come.

Well it appeared peacefully from afar.

Riding the subway to the World’s Most Famous Arena, also known as Madison Square Garden, I realized I was clutching my backpack like a toddler scared of losing his blanket.

Keep it cool, Metz, I kept telling myself, these people up here can smell fear. I must have been putting off the most formidable scent of anxiety and apprehension that city has ever whiffed.

It was the second time I had ever been in New York City, the first being on a field trip my senior year in high school. I was with some buddies that time though, and chaperons. I was supposed to be a grown up this time.

I walked toward the circular-shaped arena and of course there they were, Big Blue Nation. Honestly, they’re everywhere. They smell basketball like a hungry bear that just woke up from hibernating.

I walked in with my media credential and immediately felt the need to act like I’ve been to MSG thousands of times before. Gotta play it cool, Metz. Gotta play it cool.

I got my food, which was very good by the way, and watched the St. John’s/Georgia game that was currently being played just downstairs from the media work room and pondered the question of just how many people showed up to MSG solely for the reason to watch that game. Anyone? Probably not.

The reason people came to MSG, including myself, was to see two top-15 teams rich in basketball history with intriguing coaches and promising young, athletic talent. It was a December matchup with  a March feel. Oh yeah, there’s also this guy John Wall, not sure if you’ve heard of him or not.

On Wednesday night, in front of 15,874 fans, Wall put on a show they won’t soon forget.

Just 3:34 into the game Wall was 3-4 from the field with one assist, three steals, six points one electrifying dunk, and a 12-0 lead. The rest of the half wasn’t common for the 19-year-old. He only played about six more minutes, took one more shot, turned the ball over four times and didn’t find the score sheet again. The Cats, in turn, found themselves down by six at the break.

In the second half, The Garden, in all of her spilled-beer-smelling glory, witnessed a collegiate basketball performance that will be remembered for the rest of the year. The only way it’s forgotten is if he puts on enough other performances the rest of the year that overshadow this one. While I don’t know if that’s possible, I’m quickly learning to not put anything by Mr. Wall.

He had turn-around and pull-up jumpers, two-handed slam dunks and an attitude that screamed “this game is mine.” And in all honesty, it was. We were just witnesses.

With each of his seven field goals in the second half came UK cheers and collective growns from the UConn faithful. The UConn fans could only look at each other with each basket and ask, “are you kidding me?” Or in many circumstances, a variation of that question with choice words sprinkled in between.

He was electric, he was a leader, he was confident, he was strong, and perhaps most importantly, he was a winner on Wednesday night.

The result from it all? A 64-61 victory for UK, their ninth, and college basketball journalists in a state of awe.

Jay Mariotti of FanHouse, check. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, check. Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports, check.

Mariotti wrote, “Every so often, a celebrated hoops phenom converges upon the world’s most famous arena for the first time. Such is what this event was about in Madison Square Garden, history and pomp, a mecca welcoming a teenaged point guard with otherworldly gifts and a boundless future.”

Parrish said the atmosphere was the “best atmosphere for a neutral-site game in December I’ve ever witnessed.” Wall fueled that.

Goodman wrote about how, as good as former Calipari guard Derrick Rose was in college, Wall is even better at this point. “Wall’s drive late in the game was a play Rose never could have made this early in his career,” Goodman wrote. He closed with a valid point – Wall is only eight games into his career, and “basically dealt the opposition the knockout blow in four of them.”

It was an 11-hour drive to NYC. One where I left at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning to get there, and 2:45 a.m. Thursday morning to return to Lexington, Ky. That’s about 22 hours in a car in a 33-hour span.

But you know what?

It was amazing.

I got to see Times Square, Madison Square Garden, type up my story one table away from the infamous Mariotti, and see one of the better college basketball games, especially December college basketball games, I can remember.

Enjoy it, folks.