Griffin joins impressive list of performers at the Garden

By John Rohde

Published: November 15, 2007

Some entertainers perform a lifetime and never get to New York City.

For freshmen Bryant "Big Country” Reeves, Kevin Bookout and now Blake Griffin, their collegiate basketball road debuts came on the Big Apple's biggest stage.

That's a mighty big first trip for some mighty big freshmen.

The first time Reeves ever flew in an airplane was Nov. 26, 1991, when Oklahoma State advanced to the semifinals of the Preseason NIT inside Madison Square Garden. The Cowboys won the title with victories over Pittsburgh and Georgia Tech.

The 7-foot, 270-pound man from Gans (pop. 218 at the time) had quite an introduction to major-college ball as OSU started out that season 20-0. They closed out with an 8-8 record, losing to the Fab Five of Michigan in the Sweet 16 at Lexington, Ky.

Three years later as a senior, Big Country would lead the Cowboys to the 1995 Final Four in Seattle.

Bookout's athletic prowess in basketball, track and baseball was featured on the sports cover of USA Today when Oklahoma flew to New York to play Alabama in the AT&T Wireless Classic on Nov. 14, 2002.

"Prague and Meeker kind of remind me of New York City,” the well-humored, 19-year-old from Stroud said that day. Teammates ribbed Bookout of his early nationwide exposure. A tourist inside the elevator of the East Gate Tower Hotel was discussing the USA Today story he had just read about Bookout and said, "Must be one helluva freshman.” The elevator stopped, the door opened, and in walked the 6-foot-8, 260-pound Bookout, right on cue. Bookout's debut didn't go well, finishing with six points and two rebounds in 29 minutes in a 68-62 loss against All-American forward Erwin Dudley and SEC Player of the Year Maurice Williams. OU went scoreless for the first 5:26 of the second half to fall behind 43-25, which Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson explained by saying, "The thing that's obvious to everybody is I did a helluva job on that halftime speech.”

Another true freshman, guard De'Angelo Alexander of Midwest City, also was on that trip.

Tonight around 8:15, Griffin will play the Garden in his first career road game, facing No. 3-ranked Memphis in the semifinals of 2K Sports College Hoops Classic.

OU's 6-foot-10, 243-pound freshman forward will face Memphis guard Derrick Rose, who is being heralded as perhaps the best player in an impressive freshmen group.

"I'm real excited,” Griffin said of his trip to NYC. "I think everyone's excited. It's gonna be a challenge, but we're all looking forward to it.”

This also is the first road trip for fellow freshmen Cade Davis and Tony Neysmith. The Sooners actually will be playing in the fourth MSG arena. The first opened in 1879, the second in 1890, the third in 1925 and the current one in 1968. There are plans to build a fifth Garden, across the street. Elton John likes The World's Most Famous Arena so much, he's played there 60 times.

Could there be anything more eye-opening for a college player than playing his first road game inside Madison Square Garden? (That was a rhetorical question.)

College basketball players, both men and women, are extremely fortunate to travel to wonderful places. They go to Hawaii and Alaska, Puerto Rico and Cancun, Padre Island and the Virgin Islands, San Diego and Los Angeles, Tampa and Orlando. But for an athlete, a true performer, New York City tops all those places. By the way, on Saturday night, the day after the 2K Sports Classic is over, Stevie Wonder plays the Garden.

Comments