FAU's Dusty May got 'foundation of basketball' from Lafayette Jeff's Mark Barnhizer

The setting is the early 1990s in Bloomfield, Indiana, the tiny town that is the county seat of Greene County.

Mark Barnhizer is the newest addition to the Eastern Greene High School teaching staff and doubles as the Thunderbirds' new boys basketball coach.

In order to become a consistent winner in an area where Eastern Greene where larger schools in nearby Bedford and Bloomington ruled, Barnhizer needed someone who could elevate the program with the intangibles that brings a team together.

He knew exactly who that person was the moment he saw point guard Dusty May playing eighth grade basketball.

Yes, that Dusty May, who is the head coach of NCAA tournament darling Florida Atlantic.

More: Doyel: Former Bobby Knight student-manager Dusty May is coaching's next big star

"We saw it even when he was in eighth grade that he was going to be the leader of our program all the way through until he graduated," Barnhizer recalled. "The reason we had good teams all the way through really was a lot of it was attributed to his leadership."

The Thunderbirds won 38 games (19 each) in each of May's final two seasons. Ultimately, they'd lose to juggernaut Bedford North Lawrence, on Bedford's home court no less, in the sectional three times during May's playing career.

That ability to lead never left May when he graduated from Eastern Greene in 1995.

He took it to nearby Indiana University, where he was a student manager for the Hoosiers under legendary coach Bob Knight.

Indiana was the first of eight Division I programs May spent time with in various roles.

While May took something from his time at two stints at Indiana, as well as stops at USC, Eastern Michigan, Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida, there's some Eastern Greene and coach Barnhizer influence people are now seeing in the Owls' improbable Final Four run.

"The foundation of basketball I learned from coach Barnhizer," May said Thursday. "He was a lot like coach Knight where the team came first. You sacrificed for your teammates.

"You played with a great deal of intensity and enthusiasm and you worked incredibly hard every day. Those are all the traits that we still try for our program to be about."

That describes the type of player May was to a T.

"Statistically, I don't even remember what his points per game and all that was," Barnhizer said. "As far as importance to our program when I was at that school, it wasn't even close. He was the most important person in that program, probably including the coach. He was a coach on the floor. He didn't care about how many points he scored. He was just a great leader."

Barnhizer has coached the last five seasons at Lafayette Jeff and has amassed 533 career victories in his 40 years as a high school boys basketball head coach.

As far as NCAA Division I college basketball goes, Barnhizer's allegiances are with his alma mater Auburn, where he played in the late 1970s, and Northwestern, where his youngest son Brooks is a sophomore guard.

More: Brooks Barnhizer lifting NCAA tournament bound Northwestern

Aside from those two programs, Barnhizer roots for Dusty May.

"Dusty has been good wherever he's at. He's made his own breaks, I'll say that for him," Barnhizer said. "He was willing to do things most people wouldn't do, take jobs where you get paid virtually nothing. He took those jobs to get where he's at and it has paid off in the long run.

"He's put that school on the map. People didn't even know where it was. Now everybody knows where it is."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: FAU coach got 'foundation of basketball' from Laf. Jeff's Barnhizer