BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For Bryan Hodgson, South Florida's selection to Buffalo for the men's NCAA basketball tournament means a return home for the Western New York native.
The Bulls' head coach sat in KeyBank Center on Wednesday for a news conference about 70 miles from where he grew up. He said that 38 family members would be in attendance for Thursday's first-round game, so there's no shortage of reasons why this is a special moment. The night before South Florida's American Conference championship game, Hodgson received a phone call from a close friend predicting this very situation.
"[The friend] said, 'I'm just telling you right now, you're going to win this thing tomorrow and you're going to play in Buffalo, New York,'" Hodgson recalled Wednesday. "I'm like, 'Man, that would be amazing. That would be the icing on the cake.'"
Hodgson's team is ready for its NCAA tournament journey. The win in the conference championship game over Wichita State marked the first AAC tournament championship for the Bulls and extended an 11-game winning streak. The school is in the tournament for the first time since 2012.
No. 11 seed South Florida will face No. 6 seed Louisville on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET.
"It's unbelievably full circle moment for me," Hodgson said. "... I'm guessing very low odds for this to happen. But I think it's all part of God's plan, to be honest with you."
Hodgson, who is also a target for some open head coaching jobs, was born in Olean, N.Y. During his news conference Wednesday, Hodgson, 38, was asked to put his journey into perspective. He emphasized that while he had some traumatic experiences, "I had people around me that were there to catch me. The Hodgson family are the center of that," he said.
As part of his response, he recalled being put into foster care, then adopted by Larry and Rebecca Hodgson, and how before being fostered he had been set on a burning wood stove as a form of punishment for wetting his diaper. He still has the physical scars.
"Taken into foster care as a 2-year-old, it's kind of hit me more now as an adult than it ever did in my life because I have a 2-year-old son," Hodgson said. "... I've got one [scar] on each leg, and they used to take up my entire back thigh, and now they're about the size of a 50-cent piece. It serves as a reminder of where I come from and the people in my life that have provided me this opportunity.
"... I often joke with my parents -- people talk about my recruiting. I said my mom and dad are the best recruiters in the country because they signed me. That's obviously a joke, but they've always supported me no matter what."
Hodgson is in his third year as a head coach and first with South Florida. This is his first NCAA tournament appearance as a head coach, and it will also mark the first time his father, who has dementia, can see him compete as a head coach in person.
Other local ties for Hodgson include playing two seasons at Jamestown Community College (where he also later coached) and also coaching at Fredonia State. He also spent 2015 to 2019 as an assistant at the University at Buffalo under current Alabama coach Nate Oats.
South Florida guard Joseph Pinion even described it as being "almost like a home game."
"I'd go to my home where sometimes there were 10 foster children, plus my parents' own children, and the basketball court behind our house was kind of my place of peace," Hodgson said. "I fell in love with the game. So just to see it come full circle, I give all the thanks in the world to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ and my parents because without what they did for me, I wouldn't be here talking to you."