NEW YORK _ What has the reaction been to the Big Ten tournament taking place in the Big Apple?
All depends on your perspective.
The players love it. They're too young to have bucket lists, but if they did ...
"It's something you always wanted to do growing up, play in Madison Square Garden," Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon said.
The coaches detested the condensed schedule that playing the event here caused, but they are embracing the novel opportunity.
"Monumental," Indiana's Archie Miller called it.
Fans and media? Again, all depends. A Chicago Tribune story about Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany expressing some regrets got the universal reaction on Twitter that moving the event from Chicago and Indianapolis (where it will return to alternating for at least the next four years) was dumb.
And locally the tournament thus far has generated little impact. Thursday's New York Times sports section contained not a word beyond the scores of Wednesday's games. Many area hotels do not carry Big Ten Network, and none of the four TVs on at Heartland Brewery late Wednesday was showing the Rutgers-Minnesota game nine blocks away.
The conference does have some signage in Midtown and placed a pole near the Garden with distances to every Big Ten school. Rutgers is 31 miles away, in New Brunswick, N.J. Maryland (199 miles) and Penn State (203) are in driving distance. The other 11? Nope.
The secondary ticket market is always a useful barometer of local interest. The "walk-in" price (cheapest seat) for the Thursday night session of Penn State-Northwestern and Rutgers-Indiana was $31. A midlevel seat in Section 119 with a face value of $65 fetched $90 on SeatGeek, fees included.
The crowds have been modest (probably 35 percent full for Michigan's stirring overtime victory over Iowa) but enthusiastic.
Hey, it's the Garden. The history, lighting, sound system, PA announcer and overall vibe combine to make this a basketball experience that cannot be topped.
So when it's all in the books, will the sacrifices have been worth it?
Again, it will all depend on your perspective.
