Christian Polk stepped into a special room, got an inside look at a special place last week.
The newest UTEP basketball recruit, a 6-foot-3 guard transferring from Arizona State, was in the famed Green Room in Madison Square Garden at the NBA draft.
"It was an experience," Polk said. "I was there with my friend Jerryd Bayless. It was amazing to see all the guys making calls at the last minute, all the guys getting calls, all the agents talking to general managers. It was just a trip."
Polk's friend Bayless, a 6-3 guard out of Arizona, was the 11th overall pick, taken by Indiana and then traded to Portland.
The two guards grew up in Phoenix. Polk, a high school star at Glendale's Deer Valley, signed with Rob Evans and Arizona State. He averaged 25 points, five rebounds, four assists as a senior -- leading his team to the state final four as a junior and the state finals as a senior.
Polk averaged 12 points a game as a freshman at Arizona State, making 64 three-pointers -- 10th-most all-time by a Pac-10 freshman. But his playing time diminished as a sophomore under the new coaching staff, and now he is a Miner.
"I'll be coming there this weekend,"
he said. "I'm going to take some classes in the July semester. I'm excited to get out there. I have to sit out next year and I know it will be tough. I can do it, but I know it won't be easy. But I'll just get through it and work on making myself a better player and helping the team any way I can."
Polk grew up in the Phoenix area, playing basketball ... always playing basketball.
"I always played,"
he said. "I played, shooting little hoops in the kitchen, playing in YMCA leagues, just always playing any place I could."
On June 26th, Polk traveled to New York and got a taste of the rarified basketball air.
Laughing, he said, "It was quite an experience, being there. One thing, the Green Room is a lot smaller than it looks on TV. But it was just a great atmosphere. The New York people ... that's a whole different monster out there. It gives you something to work for, though. That's where we all want to be someday."
