Derrick Gordon didn’t become the go-to, alpha player he hoped to when he transferred from UMass to Seton Hall, but the former Minuteman will make history when he takes the floor against Gonzaga, Thursday at 9:57 p.m. in Denver.
Gordon will be the first player to reach the NCAA Tournament with three different teams. He went with Western Kentucky in 2012, UMass in 2014 and now Seton Hall.
He’ll also be the first openly gay player to play in the tournament.
Gordon averaged 7.9 points and 3.2 rebounds for the Pirates.
He’s one of several people with UMass or Hampshire County ties in the field.
Amherst Regional High School will have two graduates on benches. Dwayne Killings is an assistant coach at Temple, a No. 10 seed that will play No. 7 Iowa in the first round in New York Friday.
Pete Lappas, the son of former UMass coach Steve Lappas, is Fairleigh Dickenson’s director of basketball operations.
Former UMass forward Winston Smith is an assistant coach at Fairleigh Dickenson. The Knights play Florida-Gulf Coast in a battle of 16 seeds, Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio.
Former UMass athletic director Ian McCaw will be in Providence, Rhode Island, Thursday when his No. 5 Baylor Bears play No 12 Yale at 2:45 p.m.
Former UMass coach John Calipari is in the tournament again. His Kentucky Wildcats are a No. 4 seed and will face No. 13 Stony Brook Thursday at 9:40 p.m. in Des Moines, Iowa. He has two ex-Minuteman assistants on his staff — John Robic and Tony Barbee.
That game will follow No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 12 Chattanooga. The Hoosiers feature former UMass assistant Chuck Martin.
Robic and Barbee are two of five former UMass assistant coaches in the same role in the NCAA Tournament. Marlon “Smoke” Williamson will be on Pittsburgh’s bench when the Panthers play Wisconsin, Thursday at 6:50 p.m.
Cincinnati’s Antwon Jackson, a former assistant for Derek Kellogg, and Saint Joseph’s assistant coach Geoff Arnold, who was Bruiser Flint’s assistant at UMass, will play each other Friday at 9:57 in Spokane, Washington. The Hawks are the No. 8 seed, while Cincinnati is No. 9.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage