By Jonah Bronstein
Under different circumstances, Rob Garrison wouldn’t be one of the millions watching tonight’s Final Four.
Nor would Bilal Benn.
With the unsatisfactory finish to Niagara’s basketball season, it can be hard for the players to stomach March Madness.
“Every time I watch basketball, I feel a lot of disappointment,” Garrison said Friday.
But the Niagara Falls native has made an exception for his friends and former teammates at Connecticut, where he spent two years before transferring home.
“I’m extremely proud of all of them, especially the ones I played with,” Garrison said. “I’m happy to see them achieve a goal we came so close to my freshman year.”
The Huskies were a No. 1 seed in 2006, but got upset by George Mason in the Elite 8. At the time, Garrison roomed with hulking power forward Jeff Adrien.
“Jeff and (point guard) A.J. Price, those are my boys,” said Garrison, who keeps in touch via text messages and instant messaging online.
UConn plays Michigan State in tonight’s first national semifinal, prior to North Carolina’s game against Benn’s former team, Villanova.
Benn said he’s still close with several Villanova players, as well as North Carolina guard Wayne Ellington, a fellow Philadelphia product.
Meeting with reporters in Detroit this week, Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds said the Wildcats miss Benn and wish he was there to share in their success.
“I miss them a lot,” Benn said by phone from Philadelphia, where he plans to watch the semifinal. “Villanova is a family-oriented place. It’s like if you’re in the family business and you go off to start your own business. They knew I needed to do what was best for me. When we went down there to play (in November) and I got a standing ovation, it reminded me how special a place it was.”
Benn said he thought a little bit this week about how special it would’ve been to play in college basketball’s marquee event, but he’s glad he transferred to Niagara, where his playing time would be more secure.
Garrison expressed no regrets about leaving UConn.
“Especially because I’m having so much fun playing in my home town, in front of my family and the community,” he said.
Both players would’ve likely been reserves in their senior seasons. After transferring, Garrison and Benn each started all 35 games this season, averaged more than 30 minutes, and still have another of eligibility left.
They’re big fish in a smaller pond — but still enjoy some of the benefits of swimming in the ocean.
In his first year at UConn, Garrison developed a friendship with Rudy Gay, currently a star for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.
“When I got there, he kind of took me under his wing and more or less showed me the ropes of being a college student,” Garrison said. “Rudy is one of those people who has a great personality. You’d want to be his friend even if he wasn’t a basketball star. He could be a clerk at McDonald’s.”
When Garrison decided to leave UConn, Gay offered to let him stay down in Memphis and try to walk on to play for John Calipari. Last year, Gay flew Garrison into New York for his birthday. He watched his first live NBA game at Madison Square Garden, then celebrated the Grizzlies win in the big city.
Benn has several friends in the NBA, including Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowry, with whom he played at Villanova and in high school, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Randy Foye, another former Villanova teammate, and Milwaukee Bucks rookie Joe Alexander, a prep school teammate of Benn’s.
Last month, Benn attended a Toronto Raptors home game against Minnesota, as a guest of not only Foye, but Ed Pinckney, a member of Villanova’s 1985 championship team who was a Wildcats assistant before moving onto the pros.
Over the next couple years, Garrison will have a few more friends in the NBA, notably high school teammate Jonny Flynn.
“It’s something we always knew was going to happen, from when we were little,” Garrison said. “You could just see he was going to be something special. But to see him evolve and mature into the player he has become, it’s been something to see.
“His career has been so blessed. It’s something epic. He deserves everything he is getting.”
E-mail reporter Jonah Bronstein at jonah.bronstein@niagara-gazette.com
