NEW YORK -- College basketball's elders rolled out four heavyweights for a kickoff Madison Square Garden doubleheader and hoped everyone would quit talking about players getting paid. Zion Williamson's presence would have made the sell a bit easier. Given the transient nature of the college game, your average New Yorker would have had a hard time naming four or five kids who dressed for Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.
Not that star power was in short supply Tuesday night. You just had to know where to look to find it -- on the sideline. Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self, John Calipari and Tom Izzo walked into the Garden as Hall of Fame coaches with a combined 3,168 victories, 27 Final Four appearances (not counting the two Calipari lost at Memphis and UMass over NCAA violations), and eight national titles (five from Coach K) over a combined 121 Division I seasons.