Binghamton University’s America East Championship victory on Saturday created not only a convergence of fans on court in celebration, but a convergence of campus story lines — the peak of a crescendo in the greatest season in the school’s athletics history, and of a vision that began long ago.

“I think that was the president’s dream, the athletic director and his counterparts’ dream,” said men’s basketball head coach Kevin Broadus in the post-game press conference of Binghamton’s 61-51 win over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “That was their dream, these guys carrying it out like they did today in a class act.”

BU athletics director Joel Thirer can trace the plans that allowed for Binghamton’s first NCAA Tournament berth as far back as 1968. That was when plans for a school fieldhouse were developed, a fieldhouse that in 2001 was finally realized in the form of a $33 million multi-purpose Events Center — the site of Binghamton’s clinching win and a major part of the University’s vision of athletic notoriety.

Thirer’s goal, however, when he took over as athletics director in 1989, was not to bring Binghamton to the NCAA Tournament, necessarily, but to mold its athletics after the mid-major schools in the Midwest he had previously worked at, like Illinois State.

“There was no good reason why Binghamton couldn’t offer the same kind of environment, reach out to the same community that some of those other Midwest schools do,” Thirer said. “Filling the Events Center, and having the environment, that was my dream realized. Win or lose, seeing 5,000 people passionate about the University, feeling the buzz in town, on campus and among alumni … that’s the kind of stuff that sends chills down my spine.”

What it took to get Binghamton’s basketball team to this point, however, has drawn criticism from some. The New York Times’ Pete Thamel wrote a story in February that questioned the character of some of Binghamton’s players, like juniors Malik Alvin, who was arrested at a local Wal-Mart in the fall, and D.J. Rivera and Tiki Mayben, who had academic problems before transferring to Binghamton. The debate carried over to ESPN’s Outside the Lines program Monday night, where Thirer, Thamel, host Bob Ley and a former America East coach discussed the issue tensely.

But for Mayben, Binghamton’s point guard who turned in a sub-par championship performance but was nonetheless integral to the Bearcats’ run, holding the America East trophy marked a high point in a long basketball journey that included stops at the University of Massachusetts and Syracuse University.

“There were days I never thought I’d play basketball on the college level again,” said the junior guard, talking through tears after Saturday’s win. “I’m just happy to be here.”

Rivera, who held his young son after the championship, and Mayben both spoke after the game of the importance of things beyond basketball, like the mouths they have to feed.

Broadus, in his second year at Binghamton’s helm after leaving an assistant post at Georgetown, has taken heat for his recruiting practices, as has the University’s administration for condoning any perceived impropriety. But from an individual standpoint, Binghamton could end up just being a blip on the radar in Broadus’ career. A move to a better program in coming years would be logical.

“I think coach Broadus will go someplace else eventually,” Thirer said. “I hope Kevin [Broadus] is tremendously successful here for the next four or five years, and then I wish him the best of luck if he’s able to move into the higher income brackets. That’s the nature of the beast.”

And at the top of the chain are the University administrators that orchestrated the move to Division I, consummated in 2001, who are about to watch Binghamton receive exposure it never has before. That could create a ripple effect from increased applicants to increased interest in Binghamton’s athletics programs — not just basketball. The impact would be broad, according to Thirer.

Binghamton played in its first nationally televised game Saturday and will be televised on CBS on Thursday.

“It’s unbelievable for the school,” Thirer said.