The NCAA March Madness men’s college basketball tournament returns to KeyBank Center for the first time in four years, beginning Thursday, March 19.
Michigan, the top-seed in the Midwest Region, is one of eight teams taking the court and features 6-foot-5 senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who is from Niagara Falls, N.Y., and spent half of his high school basketball career at Lewiston-Porter High School.
Lew-Port Athletic Director Brad Halgash spoke with BTPM NPR on Monday morning from the school grounds, where he said it's been anything but a normal Monday morning.
"People are already talking about getting tickets to go see [Gayle]," Halgash said. "And, you know, that's already a conversation at 7:30 in the morning on a Monday, so that just goes to show you the amount of community members and staff at Lewiston-Porter, what they think of him, and how much they care about him and want to see him successful."
Gayle, who played two-and-a-half seasons at Lewiston-Porter before transferring to Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah became one of the top prospects in the nation before playing college basketball at Ohio State and now Michigan. Despite all of the success in the sport, Halgash says Gayle is an even better person off the basketball court.
"I really enjoyed the person more than the athlete, believe it or not," Halgash said. "Even though he was very successful — we had a lot of great accomplishments in our program with him, as an individual and as a team — but the biggest thing about Roddy Gayle was his character and how he treated all of the students. He never made it about him. He always made it about his teammates and his school and was just a great kid."
Gayle has appeared in 33 games this season for Michigan, averaging 7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20 minutes per game.
Gayle left his mark on the program, the staff and the students and, in return, Galgash said the school has supported him by traveling to his games throughout his career.
“There's many teachers and students that try to get out to Michigan or Ohio State, wherever he was, try to get to his games and continue to support him and see him, which is a testament to the kind of man that he is," Galgash said. "The students still want to go see him and remember him as a Lancer."
The support system stems from Gayle's family, which remains involved with Lewiston-Porter High School, Galgash said.
"Roddy is who he is because of his mom and his dad," Galgash said. "I actually just spoke with Mrs. Gayle a little bit ago. She stopped by and said hello. And we just kind of reminisce a little bit about his time with us. They're a very large family in that, they're always supporting him.
"And it's not just mom and dad at the games. It's always a large group of people there to support him and cheer for him. His support system is one of the major reasons why I think he is so successful and has gotten as far as he's gotten."
Michigan tips off at 7:10 p.m. on Thursday. The Wolverines take on the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between 16-seeds UMBC and Howard.
Gayle isn't the only homecoming this weekend, either.
Also on the schedule in Buffalo is an East Region matchup between 6-seed Louisville and 11-seed South Florida, which is coached by Olean native Bryan Hodgson. Before joining USF, Hodgson coached at the University of Buffalo under Nate Oats, who is now the head coach of Alabama.
Also in the East Region, 3-seed Michigan State plays 14-seed North Dakota State on Thursday at KeyBank Center. The late game Thursday is an 8- and 9-seed matchup between Georgia and St. Louis, tipping off at 9:45 p.m. Winners of all four games will play again Saturday in Buffalo as well.
