NEW YORK — He first played here as a wide-eyed freshman on Feb. 20, 1982.
Mark Schmidt was a first-year guard at Boston College, which happened to be amid one of the best seasons in program history. But before the Golden Eagles went on to accomplish what they did — 22 wins and an upset of No. 1 seed DePaul on their way to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 — there was another notable stop to make: A date with St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.
That night, BC got the best of the then-Redmen, which played many of its home games at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” 90-81. And for as special as it might have been, it actually ended up being the first of many trips to MSG during the future St. Bonaventure coach’s time on Chestnut Hill.
With the Big East Tournament having moved from the Hartford Civic Center to MSG in 1983, Schmidt played three more games there that season (his BC team fell to Chris Mullin and St. John’s in the 1983 Big East championship game) and another in both ‘84 and ‘85, in addition to the annual Redmen home games.
For Schmidt, those trips continue to be a source of fond memories.
And they’re one of the many interesting links between his current team’s place in the NIT Final Four and the past.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said of playing at MSG, before noting: “I’m a Boston kid, so the Boston Garden was everything to me and I had a chance to play there a number of times …
“(But) it gives you goosebumps, and Madison Square Garden … it’s the mecca. Every kid, every pro wants to play at MSG. It’s exciting. Being on that court when I was an 18-year-old kid, it’s almost like you felt like you made it. That’s what you dream for, that’s what you work hard for.”
Of this team’s opportunity, earned after securing three impressive road wins over Power 5 opponents, he added, “I’m just excited that our guys are gonna have the opportunity (tonight) to experience something that they’ll never forget.”
THE PARALLELS range from poetic to smaller in scale.
But they’ve all contributed to this idea that, even after the despondency of not making the Big Dance, perhaps this is a team of destiny in another way.
Multiple stories have been written about the ties to the 1977 NIT championship team — that group won four nail-biters on its way to the crown, claiming those games by a total of 12 points. This year’s group has pulled out three heart-stoppers, the last two by a combined three points.
That group also had Jim Baron, the co-captain who’d go on to lead Bona to a trio of NIT appearances during his nine-year coaching tenure. Baron, invited by Schmidt, spoke to the ‘22 team before winning the Charleston Classic championship in November, was in D.C. for the Atlantic 10 Tournament and continues to follow closely as Kyle Lofton and company look to become the second squad in program annals to win a national championship.
And then there are these tidbits:
Bona’s second-round win over Oklahoma last Sunday fell on the anniversary of its ‘77 title — March 20, the night Greg Sanders, who scored 40 points on 14-of-23 shooting, outdueled Houston’s Otis Birdsong (38 points) and made one of the biggest shots in Bona lore, the 25-footer that gave the Bonnies an 88-87 lead with 1:07 remaining. Lofton’s redemption free throws came in the same week that Paul Hoffman missed a pair of game-winning freebies in the first overtime of a double OT loss to Georgia Tech in the 1971 NIT semifinals, making for its own vindication story 51 years later.
And, fittingly, Bona’s five seniors will have the chance to (potentially) end their careers in what might be the final year the NIT is even played at the Garden, as the tournament will seek a new venue for at least 2023 and ‘24 — and possibly for good — ending an iconic run that began in 1938.
But largely this comes back to the Bonnies’ 15th-year coach, who’s looking to add one more first to the long list of such accolades over the last decade.
AFTER BONA beat Virginia to secure its place in the Final Four, all eyes turned toward the other quarterfinal on that side of the bracket: Xavier vs. Vanderbilt. Given the way things had gone, it seemed only right that Schmidt’s team would play the Musketeers at MSG, and following an overtime triumph, that’s exactly how the stage was set.
Xavier, of course, is where Schmidt truly began his rise in the coaching ranks, serving as an assistant under the late skip Prosser from 1999-01. Xavier is the team Schmidt’s 2012 Bona group beat for the Atlantic 10 title. And Xavier is with whom Schmidt made his one other appearance on the NIT Final Four stage, in ‘99.
In those ways, his career has kind of come full circle. But better than that, he said, is the opportunity to experience this again with these Bonnies … and these fans who have made it feel like a big deal.
“Yeah, I don’t know, it’s been such a long time,” he said of those connections to Xavier. “It’s been 21 years since I’ve been at Xavier. And those were great times with great teams and Coach Prosser, they were great experiences … but it’s a long time ago.
“I’m pleased that I’m here and that I’m gonna be able to coach our team in Madison Square Garden. That’s the exciting thing. For the players, you dream about playing in MSG, and as a coach you do, as well. That’s the mecca of basketball, professionally and collegiate. We’re all excited.”
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
