At the end, the Garden sounded the way it sounded when Looie Carnesecca wore that sweater, and Chris Mullin never hesitated to shoot the ball over Patrick Ewing.
It sounded as if Carmelo Anthony had just strolled onto center court arm-in-arm with Amar'e Stoudamire. It is the way March used to sound when they were St. John's Redmen, when Walter Berry stood defiantly between Pearl Washington and the Big East tournament championship. Red Storm Rising officially became Red Storm Risen yesterday. Risen behind coach Steve Lavin to an expected national ranking for the first time in a decade.
------------------
"Life will never get any better than this," Lavin told his team. "Going back to CYO basketball, at the playground -- it's still a game. This is Madison Square Garden! You've got this place electrified. . . . You're playing with your best friends, and we're playing the No. 4 team in the country. This is fun! It's not about the winning and losing, or whether, we get a bucket here or not. It's about enjoying this moment, and playing with passion, and everything that we have, to celebrate this gift."
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/glory_days_are_back_hmdL6bcswss0E51LrVvxfI#ixzz1EWFwM8UM