I arrived in Penn Station around 11 this morning, took the subway up to Times Square, headed out into the rainy New York morning and walked the few blocks north to the Marriott Marquis.

At noon, select players and coaches from Syracuse, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Washington arrived to have lunch and chat with the media for a couple of hours. Everyone is thrilled to be in New York to play big-time basketball games and enjoy Thanksgiving in the city that never sleeps.

Following the press conferences, I headed west to 10th avenue and walked up to 58th Street, locale of John Jay College, a Division III institution that specializes in criminal justice and law. Syracuse is working out here for a couple of hours prior to a reception this evening at the historic Tavern On The Green.

Perhaps the irony is clear to me solely because I was a Division III student-athlete, but I find it interesting that Syracuse, which plays its home games in front of 30,000+, is sharing an old-school gymnasium with the John Jay women???s basketball team as I write this post.

When we discuss the New York experience ??? the games in Madison Square Garden, the dinner at Tavern On The Green, seeing the floats on Thanksgiving ??? this has to be part of it. The NCAA is a diverse association and it???s not all about arenas that are bigger than mid-sized American cities.

There are more John Jays out there than Syracuse???s, so I have to think that part of the Big Apple learning experience for Jim Boeheim???s student-athletes is this shootaround at a school that specializes in criminal justice.