In 1973 the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden meant a lot. Since it was the most desired tournament at the time, many teams did not then view the event as a consolation prize. In fact, the1970 Marquette team coached by the fabled Al McGuire actually turned down the NCAA big dance to play in New York City. One can only imagine what it was like for Fairfield, which turned its first appearance in the NIT that year into a memorable one.
 
For the game, some fifteen hundred Stags boarded a Special NIT train in Fairfield that was commissioned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. Marching from Grand Central to the Garden, several thousand more Stags joined the parade. But the most impressive display of loyalty and support came from three undergraduates, who worked their way into Fairfield basketball lore by taking turns dribbling a basketball through rain, sleet and snow from campus to the Big Apple. Their sixty-two mile trip took twenty-one hours. Regardless of method of transportation, seven thousand Fairfield supporters were at the arena.
 
With the Red Sea in place at Madison Square Garden, the Stags focused their attention on Marshall University on March 18. The Herd was on an eight-game winning streak and had dusted national powers Florida State and Oral Roberts during the season, thanks in part to the efforts of two-time NBA coach of the year Mike D'Antonio.
 
When asked about the immense presence of Stags fans, the Thundering Herd coaches and players commented that although they didn't have a lot of fans for the Fairfield game, most were choosing to come Marshall's anticipated second game.
 
In a lot of circles Marshall was a trendy pick to win the whole tournament. Announcer Howard Cosell on his New York and national radio show "Speaking of Sports" anointed them. He even went so far as to predict a blow out in their first contest. But it didn't turn out that way. Indeed Fairfield defeated the Herd 80-76 before fourteen thousand screaming fans.
 
Fairfield Head Coach Fred Barakat was certainly ready for his team's underdog role. Barakat's approach knew his team well, mixing his tough, no-nonsense style of play with encouragement that he knew just when to display.
 
Many onlookers credited him for leading his boys back from an early fifteen-point deficit. Barakat's uncanny ability to step in when his team needed a moment to collect itself was apparent when a couple of timeouts helped squelch the team's apprehension and nerves. Barakat relayed that opinion to New York Times writer Sam Goldpaper who covered the game that day.
 
"We were nervous the first five minutes," Barakat was quoted in Goldpaper's story. "We didn't get back on defense or offer any challenge to their jump shooters. The first two time-outs we called were not for strategy reasons, but just to settle us down. It worked. We started to show our poise, play defense and control the boards."
 
The Stags ended up winning the battle of the boards, only the second game of the year that Fairfield ended up winning the battle of the caroms.
 
At the thirteen-minute mark of the second half, the Stags went ahead for good. Their lead would increase to 11 before the game tightened. George Groom, who graduated as Fairfield's all-time leading scorer, had 23 while Phil Rogers added 19 points. Ray Kelly (14 points) and Ralph Renn (13 points) were also instrumental in the team's win over Marshall.
 
In the next round of the NIT, Fairfield went on to lose to eventual tournament champion Virginia Tech and its star Allen Bristow by one. This time the crowd was seventeen thousand with the Stags' faithful voicing their approval throughout the game.
 
Certainly the '72-'73 season was a memorable campaign for the Stags. Many of the team's players still have an influence on the team's record book, including Groom and guard John Ryan, who remains the school's all-time leading career assist man. Rogers provided a strong base to build upon following his sophomore season
 
During the overall campaign, Fairfield defeated teams such as Georgetown, Boston College and UConn and had the honor of opening up Providence College's then new arena, the Providence Civic Center, now called the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
 
"That was the team [Providence] that ended up making the Final Four," Ryan said. "They had Ernie DiGregorio, Marvin Barnes, Kevin Stacom and Nehru "Sky" King. I remember getting whiplash watching all the outlet passes Barnes made to DiGregorio. Suffice it to say I held Ernie D to a little above his average."
 
So that March day at the Garden after the Marshall win (and the Virginia Tech loss) the Stag Nation made a state, regional and national impression. It was left for Cosell to eat crow when he lauded the little, unknown school from Connecticut which he referred to as Fairdale.
 
And along with Cosell, many national basketball fans came to appreciate and learn just what Barakat, his squad, and Stags fans strived for each time Fairfield took the court – just win Baby.