The last time Kyle McAlarney stepped into Madison Square Garden, he sat in the bowl above the lowest tier in the arena he dreamed about playing in. On the court were his teammates in the Big East Tournament, part of a season that he had helped steward three months before.
Then came an arrest. A suspension from school. And all of a sudden, McAlarney was trying to sneak down to sit with the player parents instead of sneaking past a Georgetown defender.
"I actually snuck down to behind the bench and sat there for a while with the parents and everything and with my two best friends," McAlarney said. "They actually kicked me out because I didn't have a ticket. I tried to convince them that I was on the team and obviously they wouldn't buy it so I got kicked out."
So he went back up and watched from above. In street clothes, McAlarney looks more like a regular student than a basketball player. It's what happens when you're 5-foot-11 and not 6-foot-7.
"They weren't bad but I had to make my way down there somehow," McAlarney said. "I'm like 'Yeah, I'm on the the team.' They are like 'Yeah, a 5-11 white kid. Yeah, in street clothes.''"
On Tuesday, this won't be any problem. He'll be right in the middle of it all.
McAlarney flew to New York on Monday night with his Notre Dame basketball team to play Kansas State on Tuesday. Almost 11 months ago, the Irish flew to New York to play in Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, McAlarney was in his car heading for an overnight stop in Ohio and eventually Staten Island, N.Y. after being suspended by the university for the spring semester.
Tuesday night marks the return for McAlarney. His parents, Janice and Patrick, will be in attendance, although McAlarney said his mom is disappointed the two won't spend more time together.
Those will be two of the many familiar faces cheering for McAlarney on Tuesday. Although he forbid Janice from telling him the exact amount, McAlarney estimates at least 200 of his own personal supporters in attendance. One of his best friends -- one of the two guys who accompanied him to MSG in March -- is bringing his fraternity brothers from Lehigh University, a 90-minute drive away.
"It's going to be a lot of people," McAlarney said. "Just the basketball scene on Staten Island, even though it's part of New York City it's an island so it's its own place and it's kinda small so everyone knows everyone, especially in the basketball community.
"I'm sure they'll be a lot of people there."
And McAlarney will cherish every moment of it. After having his gift taken from him for a semester, the junior returned and has become Notre Dame's best shooter and lately one of its more confident players.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, though, isn't going to make a big deal of it. The Irish have a difficult game in Madison Square Garden so being distracted won't help. But he also knows it'll be different for McAlarney than the others.
"I'd like for him to make it like any other preparation but I'd be naive to think it's gonna be," Brey said. "Certainly with family and friends back there and he's only played in the Garden once before against Georgetown in the Tournament (in 2006).
"But we've got to try to keep it as normal a preparation as possible."
That'll all be good, but when McAlarney even thought about his name being announced in Madison Square Garden, he started grinning. Since he's been a freshman he's talked about how special a place MSG is to him and how he's dreamed and longed to play in the arena.
Now he'll get that chance. Kyle McAlarney is back at Notre Dame, back playing basketball and back having fun.
"I just appreciate it so much more now and to get to play in the Garden in front of I'm sure a lot of people from Staten Island and all those faces during Jimmy V week against a great team, there is nothing better than that," McAlarney said, a grin on his face as bright as the lights on the 7th Avenue Garden marquee. "Nothing I'd rather do."
Nash Going Home, Too
Freshman Tyrone Nash, a Rosedale, N.Y., native and a product of Lawrence-Woodmere Academy on Long Island, will also dress as a Notre Dame player in his home state for the first time. Nash, the most likely of any Irish freshman to see time Tuesday, played in the Garden during the Michael Jordan All-American Classic and had 15 points and eight rebounds.
But this is different for Nash. He thinks it'd be cool to make his significant minutes debut in his hometown arena.
"It would not be a bad place to make that debut, in front of a hometown crowd, especially with our team together and Notre Dame on your chest in front of a hometown crowd against a college team like Kansas State," Nash said. "It'd be a proud moment for me and my team."
Nash has familiarity with the opponent as he beat Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley in New York last year during a prep school tournament. On Tuesday, he's hoping for a pro-Nash and pro-Irish crowd.
"I told everybody to come," Nash said. "I told them to watch a good game, Notre Dame versus Kansas State, it's a good game and you can come and watch. I invited so many people I don't know who is going to come. I hope we get the whole Garden filled with Notre Dame fans. I made sure if they come, they gotta cheer for us."
-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette
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