Journal Sports Writer
kevinmcnamara33
NEW YORK — Ed Cooley was just a seventh grader at Roger Williams Middle School when the Big East first shifted its postseason tournament to Madison Square Garden.
He says he remembers watching Patrick Ewing and Pearl Washington on television in the early 1980's and marveling at the intensity of the Big East wars. When he joined the coaching ranks as a neophyte at Boston College, perhaps the biggest highlight came when Troy Bell and company led Al Skinner's 2001 team to a Big East title under the Garden's bright lights.