Only a mile or two remained in St. Bonaventure's seven-hour journey back from Atlantic City in the wee hours of Monday morning when a phalanx of police cars pulled up to escort the team the rest of the way back to campus. Waiting at 2:30 a.m. to congratulate the Bonnies for their 67-56 win over Xavier in the Atlantic 10 title game was a throng of several hundred fans. Wild applause greeted every player getting off the bus, but most thunderous ovation of all went to coach Mark Schmidt. The fifth-year coach who took over a program struggling to make its own conference tournament even made a quick impromptu speech at the urging of the crowd after leading the Bonnies to their first NCAA tournament bid in 12 years. "This is for you guys," Schmidt told the fans. "This is one of the best days of our lives." About 11 hours removed from that memorable homecoming greeting, Schmidt reiterated how thankful he was for the show of support. "For those people to be out there at 2:30 in the morning in the cold waiting for us, it just shows how important basketball is to St. Bonaventure," Schmidt said by phone. "The win was for our team, but more importantly it was for the students and the university. For them to come out and show their appreciation, it meant a great deal."
