Part II: Men's Basketball Captures Back-To-Back Conference Titles
There have been a lot of incredible and historic sports seasons at Fairfield University over the years. This second installment relives the 1986-87 men's basketball team historic run to back-to-back MAAC Championships and NCAA Tournaments. By Chris Elsberry
Part Two - The 1987 MAAC Tournament
In the 1987 MAAC Tournament quarterfinals, the Fairfield University men's basketball team found their 'A' game and pounded LaSalle 75-62. Explorers freshman Lionel Simmons might have scored 36 but Gromos and Wynder each had 27 to lift the Stags.
"That was the best game we played all year," Head Coach Mitch Buonaguro said. "We beat them like a drum."....
This team had a heck of a run to win the MAAC tourney and get the NCAA bid.
They finished next to last in the MAAC that year, yet won the tourney.
They were a fairly short team, yet out rebounded their opponents.
They had two guards with exceptional Assist to Turnover ratios. Ed Golden was 124/60 or about 2.1 assists per turnover. AJ Wynder was 146/81 or about 1.8 assists per turnover. Never underestimate the value of solid guard play.
Jeff Gromos was also a Key Player on that team. However, he had a key injury that made him miss about 6-7 games. He also had other games that he was not 100%. With a healthy Gromos, the Stags were a very good team.
Jeff Gromos was also a Key Player on that team. However, he had a key injury that made him miss about 6-7 games. He also had other games that he was not 100%. With a healthy Gromos, the Stags were a very good team.
Yeah absolutely the overall record and final finish in the league would obviously have been a lot better if not for Gromos missing those games and playing hurt in some others. But because of the #7 seed in the MAAC tournament as a result of the regular season struggles, few league observers thought the Stags had much of a chance to win it even though they had some key performers returning from the previous year's championship squad. I think the team itself knew better because they to a man felt they were probably as good as any other if they played to their ability (as pointed out in this article), therefore the final result of winning it all didn't surprise them as much as some people from outside the program might have thought. Great credit of course to Mitch who wouldn't let the team stop believing. But like you said Jeff was a key guy in the total effort. And the fact is he came up huge in the biggest of moments, namely in the overtime period against Iona where he hit at least 2, maybe 3 key shots in the lane, something I can still visualize clearly to this day.
This team had a heck of a run to win the MAAC tourney and get the NCAA bid.
They finished next to last in the MAAC that year, yet won the tourney.
They were a fairly short team, yet out rebounded their opponents.
They had two guards with exceptional Assist to Turnover ratios. Ed Golden was 124/60 or about 2.1 assists per turnover. AJ Wynder was 146/81 or about 1.8 assists per turnover. Never underestimate the value of solid guard play.
Yes the play of AJ and Eddie were certainly a key part of the effort, and those assist/TO ratios surely were a telling stat in the overall scheme of things. But concerning the rebounding of that team even with a roster made up of shorter than normal players, one guy who has to get kudos for his work in that area is TOT. The fact is as a leader, captain and passionate performer who always gave 100% every time he was on the court, Tim, because of injuries to others, was asked to perform a different role than he had in his other three years of playing. Imagine a 6'3' power forward, not necessarily that athletic or able to sky for rebounds, yet still able to average almost 7 rebounds a game! That's what he became that season, and that in itself probably had a lot to do with the 'never give up' mentality that served the team well in the crucial spots during the tournament.
Terry O'Connor doesn't get enough credit for being the one who recruited the players on those teams. He may not have been a good X's and O's coach, but he recruited fairly well. Our starters were dependable players who knew what their roles were, they were unselfish and played great team ball. And we had a real super star in Tony George, who was a Big East caliber player.
It's amazing how Mitch's Fairfield career just sank after the '87 title. He went from being a candidate for the UConn job to being fired several years later.
There is so much to talk about with this team. First, with regards to Terry, at the time I felt Terry deserved another year. But in my opinion it was the recruiting year where the only player he signed was Aaron Brown that cost him his job. He had recruiting a good foundation for 2 seasons and then added no one. Admissions did a back flip to accept Aaron, and he was no where near the caliber of the other guys on the team. But Aaron was nonetheless a very likable guy.
Mitch had the players always believing they could win. I often wonder what would have happened if the following season, Mitch did not get that horrible call against him for going onto the court. That is a game in my view that Fairfield had legitimally won. That call changed the trajectory of Fairfield basketball and also Mitch's career. That is a big negative moment that is seldom discussed.
Terry O'Connor doesn't get enough credit for being the one who recruited the players on those teams. He may not have been a good X's and O's coach, but he recruited fairly well. Our starters were dependable players who knew what their roles were, they were unselfish and played great team ball. And we had a real super star in Tony George, who was a Big East caliber player.
It's amazing how Mitch's Fairfield career just sank after the '87 title. He went from being a candidate for the UConn job to being fired several years later.
There is so much to talk about with this team. First, with regards to Terry, at the time I felt Terry deserved another year. But in my opinion it was the recruiting year where the only player he signed was Aaron Brown that cost him his job. He had recruiting a good foundation for 2 seasons and then added no one. Admissions did a back flip to accept Aaron, and he was no where near the caliber of the other guys on the team. But Aaron was nonetheless a very likable guy.
Mitch had the players always believing they could win. I often wonder what would have happened if the following season, Mitch did not get that horrible call against him for going onto the court. That is a game in my view that Fairfield had legitimally won. That call changed the trajectory of Fairfield basketball and also Mitch's career. That is a big negative moment that is seldom discussed.
RF, both valid points for sure concerning the fates of TOC and then Mitch as far as how their careers as head coach of the Stags played out. As far as your assessment of Terry's downfall, I have to admit that at least as far as my memory of the situation, the fact that recruiting was going badly doesn't stick out in my mind as a key factor (as opposed to the fact the team just wasn't winning period). HOWEVER now that you have me thinking about it, I believe you have brought up a key point that may indeed have been very important even if it has taken me 35 years to realize it. So great job by you for bringing this up, and BTW Aaron Brown was certainly a likable guy even if not a basketball stud, something that was reinforced to me when I ran into him in his home area of Eastern Michigan when I was out there to watch Fairfield play Michigan in (I think) 2004. He was doing well then. I hope he still is now! And as far as your point about Mitch and what that fateful night in St. Peter's meant to his career, well even though you suggest that isn't discussed much, actually I have to this day always understood the impact that one event had on his career. Indeed a victory that night by the heavy underdog Stags would have meant the Mitch magic would have been continuing (Mitch is God). Instead the arc of the team immediately (in retrospect) changed for the worst, thereby leading to those next four lousy seasons and finally his firing. Probably never in the history of the program has one negative happening on the court led to so much failure in the future, and like you say (although maybe the call was "technically" correct), the fact is it was a horrible decision by the lead referee Jackie Hannon (with some passionate prodding by St Peter's coach Ted Fiori) simply because common sense wasn't applied.
Last Edit: Jul 28, 2020 12:52:58 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
There is so much to talk about with this team. First, with regards to Terry, at the time I felt Terry deserved another year. But in my opinion it was the recruiting year where the only player he signed was Aaron Brown that cost him his job. He had recruiting a good foundation for 2 seasons and then added no one. Admissions did a back flip to accept Aaron, and he was no where near the caliber of the other guys on the team. But Aaron was nonetheless a very likable guy.
Mitch had the players always believing they could win. I often wonder what would have happened if the following season, Mitch did not get that horrible call against him for going onto the court. That is a game in my view that Fairfield had legitimally won. That call changed the trajectory of Fairfield basketball and also Mitch's career. That is a big negative moment that is seldom discussed.
RF, both valid points for sure concerning the fates of TOC and then Mitch as far as how their careers as head coach of the Stags played out. As far as your assessment of Terry's downfall, I have to admit that at least as far as my memory of the situation, the fact that recruiting was going badly doesn't stick out in my mind as a key factor (as opposed to the fact the team just wasn't winning period). HOWEVER now that you have me thinking about it, I believe you have brought up a key point that may indeed have been very important even if it has taken me 35 years to realize it. So great job by you for bringing this up, and BTW Aaron Brown was certainly a likable guy even if not a basketball stud, something that was reinforced to me when I ran into him in his home area of Eastern Michigan when I was out there to watch Fairfield play Michigan in (I think) 2004. He was doing well then. I hope he still is now! And as far as your point about Mitch and what that fateful night in St. Peter's meant to his career, well even though you suggest that isn't discussed much, actually I have to this day always understood the impact that one event had on his career. Indeed a victory that night by the heavy underdog Stags would have meant the Mitch magic would have been continuing (Mitch is God). Instead the arc of the team immediately (in retrospect) changed for the worst, thereby leading to those next four lousy seasons and finally his firing. Probably never in the history of the program has one negative happening on the court led to so much failure in the future, and like you say (although maybe the call was "technically" correct), the fact is it was a horrible decision by the lead referee Jackie Hannon (with some passionate prodding by St Peter's coach Ted Fiori) simply because common sense wasn't applied.
Yea, its hard for me to say anything negative about Good ol Aaron Brown, he was a really great guy despite the fact that his basketball skills did not match Terry O's hype. Aaron seemed to know all 3000 students on campus on a first name basis and I was never at a party anywhere that he was not at. It was like he was 5 people. It seemed like he was everywhere. He was probably in every dormroom on campus at one point or another that season, the only place I never spotted him was in a classroom.
At the time I was fairly close with Father Kelly and Father Higgins. They both left me with the feeling that they were disappointed we didn't have a better recruiting class. We had about 5 or 6 D1 level talents and that was all we had on the roster. I believe we did add Andy Woodli (might have been a transfer he was not a freshman) that season in addition to Aaron, but coming off a 10-18 record and adding no player that University leadership felt was going to be a difference maker seemed to seal Terry's fate. We did in fact have a very solid nucleus but no depth. Besides Gromos who was still maturing as a player, there wasn't a legitimate big man on the roster. Besides the newcomers, the only inside players we had were Kevin McCloud and Pat Yerina. Kevin's intramural team didn't win many games with him at Center, so I don't think he was really going to do much at the MAAC level. Yerina was a great player at the 4 but sometimes got in foul trouble and the team had no one really who could play at his level when he was on the bench. When he graduated, Tim O'toole played power forward at 6'3 and there was no one to replace gromos or TOT when either was hurt or on the bench. Woodli played with heart but he wasn't the same caliber player. Truthfully, the 86 and 87 teams would have been a force with one more big man. I say they would have gone 28-4 with another big man.
I have very fond memories of that team, Tony George lived on my floor, my roommate went to high school with TOT, so at least casually I knew many of the other guys on that team in addition to Aaron. I wish Aaron had been as good as Terry's hype, I felt Terry oversold the Big "A" because he was the only recruit he signed and it was the overselling of the "Motor City Madman" as much as anything that caused the administration to lose confidence in terry.
Post by reindeerfan on Jul 28, 2020 17:59:09 GMT -5
PS - Where have you gone Paul Fabbri? Attached is an article from 1985 from one of the better writers on the Milford Mirror on the departures of our beloved Aaron Brown and Terry O'Connor. An entertaining read.....
