Cell phones blared in unison Wednesday in a postgame interview session during the first day of the Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament at PPG Paints Arena.
The disruption occurred in mid-sentence of St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt’s reference to former golfing great Jack Nicklaus while Schmidt was attempting to illustrate a point after his team’s first-round victory over La Salle.
Virtually everyone in the packed room scrambled to mute the shrill.
The dry-humored Schmidt, who is retiring at season’s end after 25 years as a head coach — six at Robert Morris and 19 at St. Bonaventure — got a kick out of the scene.
“Is that Jack?” the outgoing Bonnies coach joked, barely cracking a smile while managing to break a bit of tenseness that hovered in the air not long after the opening game of the tournament was over.
Turns out all that buzz was because the National Weather Service had declared a tornado warning for the area.
But for the more than 4,600 fans who helped to get the tournament rolling, it was basketball — not the elements — that was on their minds.
In the opener, No. 12 seed St. Bonaventure extended Schmidt’s coaching career for at least another day with a 99-80 victory over No. 13 La Salle in one of two first-round games.
No. 14 Loyola Chicago then upset No. 11 Richmond, 75-67, joining the Bonnies in advancing to Thursday’s second round of the 14-team event.
Day 2 will be highlighted when host Duquesne, the No. 7 seed, faces No. 10 Rhode Island at 5 p.m. The second round tips off at 11:30 a.m. with No. 8 Fordham against No. 9 George Washington. St. Bonaventure meets No. 5 George Mason at 2 p.m., and Loyola Chicago takes on No. 5 Davidson at 7:30 p.m. in the nightcap.
The tournament, back in Pittsburgh for the first time in seven years, runs through Sunday’s championship game. Attendance was expected to pick up with Thursday’s expanded slate of games. As the rounds progress, the stakes become higher.
It’s nothing new for P.J. Boggs and Brian Shevitz, two friends who made the trip from Mercer, 65 miles north of Pittsburgh. Boggs said they’ll likely be around for Friday’s quarterfinals, when high-seeded teams who enjoyed a double bye will begin play.
“We’re going to take tomorrow off and come back when Saint Louis and VCU get starting to play,” Boggs said.
Back in the media room, after order was restored for that early postgame session, Schmidt went on to make his point.
“Everybody knows who Jack Nicklaus is,” he said, adding that “I’m a big golfer, even though I’m not a very good golfer.
“Jack Nicklaus once said — and it’s stuck with me for a long time — ‘You learn how to win by winning.’ You’ve got to put yourself in a position to win, and you’ve got to win. You can practice all you want, but you’ve got to be able to pull one out. And once you pull one out, it’s confidence.”
It was just one small element of the first day of a five-day extravaganza that will draw fans of the league’s 14-teams and basketball followers from throughout the region
“We’re here because we’re college basketball junkies, particularly with the A-10,” said Ron Jordan, a VCU fan from Richmond who is in Pittsburgh with his wife, Dianne, and daughter, Merrill, to attend all five sessions.
“Pittsburgh has some great steakhouses, a lot of them for the size city it is,” he said. “And this is a great facility. I love this place.”
The Jordans were checked into the Cambria Hotel Pittsburgh, adjacent to the arena and were planning to enjoy the tournament’s festivities while exploring Pittsburgh each day.
“We haven’t been here very often at all,” said Ron Jordan, a retired U.S. Steel employee. “We’re looking forward to it.”
When the family was reminded that Pittsburgh isn’t an NBA town and its basketball enthusiasm appears to wane from time to time, Ron Jordan recalled a familiar name.
“You’ve got Jeff Capel at Pitt, who used to be (coach) at VCU. We remember him well,” Jordan said. “We also wanted to see Mark Schmidt because we figured maybe it’d be his last game.”
Not yet. Schmidt’s career on the bench will continue for at least another day.