Leave it to this sport, to this tournament, to align the college basketball stars in such fitting fashion.
For years, across state borders and divisional levels of collegiate basketball, May and Schertz spent countless hours talking ball, sharing playbooks, and breaking down film. From May’s time in Boca Raton coaching Florida Atlantic, where Schertz is from, and Schertz’s time in Terre Haute coaching Indiana State, where May is from, their careers have always been intertwined.
They’ve admired each other for a number of reasons, all of them the same. The free-flowing, organized-yet-random offenses. The ability to squeeze the most out of their players. The drive to build a program on the pillars of strategy, and culture, and the little things that move the needle when it comes to winning games. The pure obsession with and love for basketball.
Yet for a whole host of factors, May and Schertz probably never envisioned going against each other.
“We go way back,” May said Friday. “When I was at FAU, early on, we signed one of his graduate transfer players. He helped us through the process. As I was studying that player, I noticed a really well-coached basketball team on both sides of the ball, and just thought, ‘This would be a guy that would be good to know.’ ”
Pretty quickly, the two realized their similarities.
“Dusty and I, we have a lot in common,” Schertz said. “Both very good looking and hair and all that stuff. No, but we’re both obviously obsessed with basketball and trying to figure out ways to do it better. Friendships usually start with common interests, and the common interest is basketball and how we can do our jobs better.
“It’s always nice when you have somebody who’s in the same chair as you. It’s hard, sometimes being a head coach can be lonely. It’s hard for people to understand what you’re going through. Even your staff — he has a great staff, I have a great staff. But it’s always nice to talk to somebody who’s sitting in the same chair, dealing with the same situations you are. He’s been an incredible resource for me over however many years it’s been.”
Saturday won’t be one of those “for the other 364 days…” type of matchups. For thousands of days, May and Schertz have been breaking down film and sharing notes on teams across the country — including Michigan and Saint Louis — without even the thought of a potential matchup on the horizon.
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