Lefty

On going to Maryland for $14,000 a year: “It was a five-year contract. I was making 12 at Davidson. He told me I’d be the highest-paid coach in the ACC.”

The late Tony Snow

I was just searching for something on Google and this came up instead. Snow, Class of ’77, R.I.P., after the loss to Maryland in the tourney in ’07, thinking about maybe a win in the tourney in ’08: “I sure hope it happens,” he said. “It’d make my heart glad and proud.”

The late Robert Novak

In his memoir via the Washington Times: “[When] Maryland hired Lefty away from Davidson, I knew that big-time basketball had come to Washington.”

From Maryland to Belfast

The network: Neal’s path to Northern Ireland was paved with a fortuitous connection. Neal and his family hosted Frank Ben-Eze, a Nigerian power forward who opted to attend Davidson, during Ben-Eze’s high school years. Ben-Eze just finished his freshman year with the Wildcats, and coach Bob McKillop remains in contact with the Neals.