4 Apr 1983: Head coach Jim Valvano of the North Carolina State Wolfpack celebrates with his team after the Wolfpack defeated the Houston Cougars 54-52 in the NCAA men''s basketball championship game at University Arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
(Getty Images / Getty Images)As with most basketball fans who grew up near New York City, Madison Square Garden was an important place in the life of the late Jim Valvano, long before a tournament in his memory would be played there.
It is where he went as a kid, traveling in from Long Island with his father Rocco, a high school basketball coach, and his two brothers, to watch the New York Knicks when they were very bad and, later, when they were the best team on the planet.