NEW YORK CITY – University of South Florida basketball guard Melvin Buckley calls Chicago home, so he knows what big city life is like.

Still, a trip to New York gave the Windy City native a new perspective on metropolises.

‘It’s beautiful, man,’ Buckley said. ‘I’ve always heard (Chicago) referred to as Little New York, and coming up here for the first time I can see why. … Chicago is a big city, but it’s nothing like New York.’

Buckley and a number of other Midwestern players received their first taste of New York City at Big East Media Day on Wednesday.

The Big East’s acquisition of five Conference USA teams in the offseason brought players like Buckley to the annual Madison Square Garden event, which for many was a first-in-a-lifetime experience.

Dominic James, a freshman guard at Marquette, never had the luxury of experiencing city life like Buckley.

‘It’s like a culture shock,’ James said. ‘I’ve never been in a city this big. I’m from Indiana; it’s all cornfields and things like that.’

Louisville, Cincinnati and DePaul joined South Florida and Marquette as the newest Big East members, bringing the conference total to 16 teams.

Conference USA holds its basketball media day in Memphis, Tenn., a city with a population of a little more than 1 million. Compare that to New York, which boasts 8 million people within its limits.

‘I’m a little more country,’ Cincinnati forward and Greensboro, N.C. native Eric Hicks said. ‘To me, it looks like every five seconds there’s about to be a wreck. It’s such a faster pace. … I’ve never been involved in anything like this.’

Most of the players said they arrived late Tuesday night and left early Wednesday evening, so they didn’t get to take in all the sights they had hoped to see.

The hustle and bustle was enough for some, though. Buckley and teammate Solomon Jones walked to a McDonald’s around 1 a.m. on Wednesday and said all the people in the streets made it feel like 7 or 8 at night to them.

‘I’m sure it’s a completely different environment,’ Connecticut forward Josh Boone – who attended Media Day last year – said, ‘when you’re somewhere like a Marquette and you get put out here in the middle of Times Square right away.’

A few opportunities exist for the newcomers to return to New York. Games at St. John’s and the Big East Tournament at the end of the season each offer the chance for the urban rookies to come back to the city that never sleeps.

‘When we were flying in, we saw all of the lights, the bridges,’ Buckley said. ‘It just kinda clicked: ‘Whoa, I’m in the Apple, man.’

‘I mean, we gotta come back. Once you get a taste of it, you gotta come back and see everything. That’s one thing we got our heart set on.’

McNamara, Devendorf take honors

Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara was named preseason Big East Co-Player of the Year and SU guard Eric Devendorf preseason Big East Rookie of the Year by the conference coaches at Media Day.

McNamara shared the honor with Connecticut forward Rudy Gay, who won the conference’s Co-Rookie of the Year last season. It’s the second year in a row an SU player shares the preseason distinction, following Hakim Warrick’s tie with Providence’s Ryan Gomes in 2004.

McNamara was also named to the 10-man preseason All-Big East Team, the only Orange player to make it.

‘It’s a great honor, but it’s preseason,’ McNamara said. ‘You have to go out and perform and win games. You’re not going to be player of the year if your team’s not successful.’

Conference picks

Big East coaches also ranked the conference’s 16 teams with Villanova gaining the preseason No. 1.

The Wildcats earned 215 points and nine first-place votes compared to Connecticut’s 213 points and seven first-place votes.

The coaches ranked Louisville (192) third and Syracuse (181) fourth. Rutgers, Seton Hall and South Florida rounded out the Big East bottom three.

‘Everybody’s picking us to go 0-16,’ USF’s Buckley said. ‘We won’t go 0-16.’

This and that…

A writer asked Louisville head coach Rick Pitino his thoughts on DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright. Pitino began lauding Wainwright’s late-game shooting heroics, thinking the writer had asked about Gerry McNamara. When the writer restated his question, Pitino said: ‘I can assure you that Gerry McNamara is a better basketball player than Jerry Wainwright.’ … West Virginia sent five players to Media Day, the only team to do so. … WVU’s 6-foot, 11-inch center Kevin Pittsnogle wore a suit jacket that extended to his shins. … A post-media buffet sat all the players in the same room. Villanova and UConn were the only teams to sit together.

Published on October 26, 2005 at 12:00 pm