Erik Brady: Paul Hoffman is aware of how Bona's Kyle Lofton feels after painful neglected loose throws

Because it occurs, Duke and North Carolina have performed each and every different just one time outdoor of regular-season video games and the ACC match. That one recreation got here within the different semifinal of the 1971 NIT. Believe: Duke-North Carolina used to be the undercard of that doubleheader, with St. Bonaventure and Georgia Tech within the nightcap.

North Carolina’s Tar Heels beat Duke, 73-67, within the semis, and went on to overcome Georgia Tech, 84-66, within the finals. The Bonnies, without a avid gamers over 6-6, trailed Duke via 17 issues two times within the first part of the comfort recreation. Because the New York Instances put it, “The upstate leaping jacks couldn’t fit Duke’s top.” However they rallied in the second one part and scored the sport’s ultimate six issues to ship it to additional time. Ultimate: St. Bona 92, Duke 88.

“I performed neatly,” Hoffman recollects. “I’m satisfied I were given to head available in the market and play once more in an instant.”

He’s satisfied, too, that Lofton may have the similar alternative this night, at Colorado, within the first spherical of the NIT.

Hoffman, now 72, scored greater than 2,000 issues at St. Gabriel’s Prime Faculty in Hazleton, Pa. One among his lecturers used to be a clergyman who had graduated from St. Bona and instructed that Hoffman practice there. He visited campus on an afternoon when Bob Lanier led the Bonnies to a spirited win in opposition to Canisius on the Reilly Heart.