Prior to Friday night’s battle against Hobart Tom Schneider experienced a first.
He was nervous.
The Rensselaer men’s basketball star’s anxiety stemmed from the fact that he had six family members, who made the long drive from New Hampshire, in the stands all hoping to see Schneider become the 12th player in RPI history to score 1,000 career points. The RPI forward, who entered the game averaging close to 16 points a game, needed just eight points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
“I definitely wanted to get it out of the way,” the senior co-captain said about his thoughts before the game. “I was thinking I’d better get it tonight….”
But as nervous as Schneider was before the game, it could not compare to the angst he could have been feeling as he sprinted, uncontested toward the basket with 10:31 left in the first half.
“I knew I had it,” Schneider said after he stole a pass and broke free on the fast-break. “When I stole the ball, I wanted to dunk it, but I did not really get the ball out in front of me. I was a little nervous, so I just decided to the lay it in…For the first couple minutes that’s all I was thinking about, but once it came and went, and the monkey was off my back, I ended up having a pretty good game.”
That is a gross understatement. Schneider, who was named Liberty League Forward of the Week for the fifth straight week, was more than good, he was phenomenal. He finished the game with 1,019 career points after exploding for 27 against the Statesmen. His 21 rebounds also inched him even closer to third on Rensselaer’s all-time rebounding list. When the weekend finished, he sat just one out of third place with 772 rebounds.
After another double-double Tuesday versus Vassar, Schneider increased his point total to 1,037 and officially moved in the third spot on RPI’s all-time rebounding list with 783.
Schneider’s rise in the ranks of RPI basketball history occurred somewhat quietly since the forward went from relative obscurity as a role player behind the likes of Jared Hite and Paris Moore the last two seasons, to the Red Hawks’ main offensive threat this season. He always felt he could do more, and this summer Rensselaer Head Coach Mike Griffin agreed.
This summer the 23-year head coach sent Schneider a letter. In it was copy of a box score from one of Griffin’s game’s while at Colombia. In the contest, Griffin dropped 22 points and 20 rebounds, and in a small note issued a challenge to his senior forward.
“At the bottom [of the letter] it said, ‘Tom you’re the guy this year we need averaging 20 and 12.’” Schneider recalled. “They told me last year that I had to be a first team Liberty League player and if we won I’d have a chance at Player of the Year.”
That letter brought Schneider back to Troy this summer, where he stayed and played basketball every single day, lifted four times a week, and spent three days a week running “hard and fast” three mile circuits.
Griffin has seen Schneider’s potential since high school, hence why he made nine trips to New Hampshire to see him play. According to Griffin, Schneider had amazing athleticism and shooting skills for a player his size, but that was not what impressed the Rensselaer Head Coach the most.
“I feel he is the ultimate teammate,” Griffin said via e-mail. “[He is] unselfish, to a fault (sometimes passes up good shots to feed teammates), competes and raises the level of play in practice virtually every single day. [He is] a fearless competitor who wants to accept challenges.”
Schneider’s unselfishness was on full display earlier this season when he willingly came off the bench as Griffin made tweaks to the line up in an effort to reverse the Red Hawks’ early season struggles.
All of Schneider’s personal achievements have yet to sink in. Currently he is only focused on one thing: winning a conference championship, for the team, and for Griffin. “I just want to win,” Schneider said. “I love Coach to death, everyone on the team does, and I just want to win a conference championship for him.”
Schneider is not completely unselfish, however. The senior wants to win for another reason: to extend his career. Rensselaer has only two guaranteed games left on the schedule, both of which are this weekend in Robison Gym. The closing window has given Schneider renewed motivation and a sense of urgency, which has inspired his recent production.
“I have a lot of confidence right now,” Schneider said. “I don’t want it to end, so I’m doing everything in my power to make it last a little longer.”
To do that, RPI will have to at least split their games with Skidmore and Union this weekend. Assuming they will make the playoffs, Rensselaer will also have to travel to Clinton, N.Y., for the Liberty League Tournament to face Hamilton, a team they have yet to beat in Scott Field House.
Schneider, however, is ready for the challenge.
“It would be exciting,” Griffin said. “I’m pumped up for it. The conference championship is definitely going be there. I think we’re ready, I just want to get it done.”
