The Associated Press moved this item earlier this evening and I thought I'd share it with you...I was lucky enough to be in the building for the final three games on the list. To think, all of those storied moments in the history of Madison Square Garden and I was fortunate enough to witness three of them. That Pitt-Duke game had so much drama with Mike Cook's injury and then Levance Fields nailing that 3-pointer as the clock ticked down. I'm glad it made the final list. It deserves to be there.
I'd love to hear your feedback on these games as well as your personal Pitt memories from Madison Square Garden.
NEW YORK (AP) — Madison Square Garden will conduct a
season-long celebration of 75 years of college basketball by selecting the 10
top moments in the building’s storied history.
The list of nominated moments was released Tuesday and the
order of the top 10 as selected by a panel including sports writers,
broadcasters, coaches and officials will be revealed during games at the Garden
in November and December. The first of the moments will announced Thursday night
during the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic.
The top three moments will be revealed Dec. 9 during the
SEC-Big East Invitational.
The first college games were played at the old Garden on Dec.
29, 1934, with NYU beating Notre Dame 25-18 in the opener and Westminster
beating St. John’s 37-33.
Among the nominated moments were: the first doubleheader; Ernie
Calverley’s 55-foot shot that gave Rhode Island a win over Bowling Green in the
1946 NIT; CCNY’s NIT and NCAA championships in 1950; Lew Alcindor’s performance
for UCLA in the 1968 Holiday Festival; Carol Blazejowski’s 52-point performance
for Montclair State in 1977; St. John’s winning the Big East title in 1983;
Syracuse’s Dwayne "Pearl" Washington turns the Garden into "his house" in 1984;
the "Sweater Game" between Georgetown and St. John’s in 1985; Ray Allen and
Connecticut win the Big East title at the buzzer in 1996; St. John’s coach Lou
Carnesecca has his banner raised in 2001; Gerry McNamara’s heroics lead Syracuse
to 2006 Big East title; Pitt defeats Duke in a battle of unbeatens in
2007; and Syracuse’s six-overtime win over Connecticut in the 2009 Big
East tournament.