As a sportswriter, I sometimes have the tendency to distance myself from the people I’m writing about or the events I’m covering.

It’s even easier to do it as a student-journalist. I don’t want to risk losing credibility or being considered a homer. So sometimes I just have to shelve my awe at a situation.

Maryland Madness on Friday night at Cole Field House, though, was different.

Seeing Gary Williams, Lefty Driesell and Mark Turgeon standing at midcourt on the old-style “M” after being introduced gave me goosebumps. Watching Juan Dixon and Byron Mouton, two childhood mainstays, play in the alumni game brought back my first memories of the Terps. And sitting courtside made me imagine what it might have been like to cover teams in the sweatbox.

It broke down that barrier I typically construct while on press row.

I never attended a Terrapins men’s basketball game there growing up. With parents from outside the area, I wasn’t raised on the Terps. It was something I had discovered on my own, spending first-grade sick days watching the Terps during March Madness and seeing Steve Francis emblazoned on the Sports Illustrated cover for the 1999 NCAA tournament.

I looked forward to Sunday afternoons, when after my indoor soccer games I would sit at my kitchen table and watch the Terps play at Cole with Dixon, Steve Blake and Lonny Baxter on the court. Obviously, everything climaxed in 2002 with the run to the national championship, a run that solidified Dixon and Blake’s place as heroes in my 9-year-old mind.

For me — and probably so many others — Friday night was the opportunity to let all of those memories seep back in and take a courtside seat in front of history. For a few hours, I saw Cole used for its original purpose and soaked in the experience of the generations that came before me.

Comcast Center has had its own share of memorable experiences for me, as watching the Terps’ upset of Duke in 2010 had a direct influence on my decision to attend this university, and February’s victory remains one of the greatest sporting events I’ve attended.

But anyone walking around the campus notices the arcing green roof and brick facade of Cole. And most of us here have heard all of the stories about the building’s history.

Sitting in a Cole classroom formerly used for basketball study hall, I watched a parade of significant figures in Terps basketball history enter and share stories. Williams, Driesell, former women’s coach Chris Weller and former players Walt Williams and Vicky Bullett brought the stories of the past to life.

It was different hearing them come straight from the source as opposed to in books or videos. It made the history of the building tangible and brought it out of my memories and into the present.

So while there wasn’t an ACC title at stake or a rivalry game on the temporary court, Maryland Madness served as a reminder of the history standing next to Stamp Student Union.

And as I move forward in life and in my career, it’ll also serve as a reminder that it’s OK to take a step back and take it all in. Sometimes it’s pretty cool.