For the past two seasons, Kevin Fitzgerald has led the BU men’s basketball team in assists. His greatest one, however, came off the court, during his freshman year.
Fitzgerald was joining a team that had gone 9-18 and 7-22, respectively, over the past two seasons, and the pressure was heavy to change that. BU Coach Dennis Wolff was ready to see his team win again.
“His freshman year was when I thought we’d start turning it around,” Wolff said. “We were coming off two horrible years, but the team was finally healthy again. Then we had some more injuries and were struggling.
“The team decided to have one of those players-only meetings to vent their frustrations. Some older guys … were complaining that I was getting on them too much.”
“We just needed to talk to get everything out in the open,” Fitzgerald explained. “We weren’t performing at the level we should’ve been.”
Fitzgerald, who played for the legendarily loud and demanding Tim Leary at St. Francis Prep in Queens, N.Y., stood up and did something not many freshmen would, according to Wolff.
“At some point, Kevin stood up and said, ‘You guys are getting your asses kicked, this is ridiculous. [Wolff] is not making us get up at 6 a.m., he’s not running us, he’s just holding us accountable for basketball stuff and you guys don’t want to hear it.’
“[At the time sophomore forward] Billy [Collins] and some other guys agreed and said the team should stop whining and play ball. For him to do that as a freshman is something special.”
The incident, which could have torn the team apart, laid the foundation for a run that culminated in last year’s America East championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament. Following the meeting, the team won five of its last seven regular season contests, before bowing to the University of Maine in the America East tournament in overtime.
Last year, with the negativity removed, the team went 22-10 and made the tournament for the first time since 1997. And now, the team, currently at 3-2, is poised to return to the NCAA Tournament as the overwhelming pre-season favorite to win the America East Conference.
“It was rough that first year,” Collins said. “We just had to keep faith in the coaching staff and everyone finally bought into the system last year.”
Holding the team accountable that day as a freshman is the best example of why Wolff named Fitzgerald as one of his captains this year, along with high-scoring junior Matt Turner and dependable senior Collins. Since “Fitz,” as he is known to teammates and coaches, only scores 3.4 points a game and shoots about 37 percent from the field, his success is measured in defense, leadership and ultimately wins and losses.
“After winning last year, some of the younger guys will think it comes easy,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s my job to make sure no one ever takes a night off so we can make it back to the tournament.”
Coaches, from BU and opposing schools, are confident that Fitzgerald will be able to keep the team from taking those nights off.
“[His leadership] speaks to his nature as a person, since he has no interest whatsoever in stats at the end of he game, other than the final score,” Wolff said. “There is a direct correlation between Fitz’ involvement in the program and the program’s turnaround.”
The two years before Fitzgerald arrived in Boston, the Terriers won 16 games. In his first two seasons, they have won 36.
“It’s obvious to me that he’s the glue of that team,” said John Giannini, head coach at Maine, whose team was defeated by the Terriers last March to advance to the NCAAs. “You have to understand the whole game to understand his value to his team.”
Giannini should know better than anyone. In last year’s America East Championship, Fitzgerald was able to control the game without scoring a point or grabbing a rebound. He set up his teammates to near-perfection, notching six assists against only one turnover. His reaction after the game, despite being held scoreless, was vintage Fitzgerald.
“It was, by far, the highlight of my career,” Fitzgerald said. “You grow up, wanting to play basketball your whole life, watching the tournament on TV, wishing it could be you. The goal for this year is to get back and enjoy that feeling again.”
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To see how dedicated he is to achieving that goal, you only need to see one practice.
Above the din of squeaking sneakers and the thud of basketballs on hardwood, one voice echoes above the rest. It’s Fitzgerald’s, rooting his teammates on, through encouragement and humor, to ensure a good workout. He claps more than Vanna White, but also makes sure the team doesn’t get complacent.
“Every day, at practice and in the locker room, he’s always the guy who says, ‘Let’s go guys, let’s pick it up out there,'” Collins said.
With the emergence of freshman guard Chaz Carr last year, and the return of Turner from injury, there is a logjam in the Terrier backcourt. Carr starred after Turner separated his shoulder early last year, scoring over 30 twice and regularly scoring in the teens. Before going down, Turner scored 13 or more in five of six games, with a high of 31. To the casual observer, both are better players than Fitzgerald.
“There’s always a discussion in here that, in a pure talent world, you can make an argument that Chaz and Matt are better players than Kevin,” Wolff admitted. “But in terms of value to a team and having a cohesive unit, we can’t play without Kevin.”
“The scouting report always talks about stopping guys like Turner or Carr, but what makes them so effective is Fitzgerald’s ability to get them the ball,” Giannini said.
Fitzgerald is a political science major, which is good, since he has to keep plenty of people happy. He wouldn’t make a good politician though, since he never seeks for any attention and always looks to credit others.
“We have a lot of scorers on this team,” Fitzgerald said. “I just have to make sure they get the ball in the right place.”
Fitzgerald never mentions his own desire to shoot or score. He knows his role and happily accepts it. There are some though, who wish he could score a bit more.
“Kevin has never had a problem with it,” his mother Patricia said. “He’s accepted it better than his father and I have.”
She would know, as she’s been there from the beginning, from the time in eighth grade when he scored 49 of his team’s 62 points in a triple overtime win, to his recent trip to the NCAA Tournament. Fitzgerald won’t score 49 again, but is just as valuable to his team now as he was then.
The Terriers could find someone else to score Fitzgerald’s 3.4 points per game, but could not replace his leadership, which started off-the-court as a freshman in a players-only meeting and was cemented on-the-court in last year’s America East championship game.
“The team won’t know exactly how valuable he is until he’s gone,” Collins said.
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