CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s no rhyme or reason to fate.
Fate doesn’t operate on a schedule.
Depending on your spiritual beliefs, fate is either random or it’s destiny.
In the case of this week’s NCAA Tournament opening round at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center, fate gift-wrapped a gem, bringing the soul of Jersey City basketball to North Carolina, the home of the blue-blood elite in the sport.
Saint Peter’s and Wagner are two of the eight teams playing here Thursday — Wagner, the No. 16 seed in the West Region, playing No. 1 seeded North Carolina at 2:45 p.m. and Saint Peter’s, No. 15 in the Midwest, playing No. 2 seeded Tennessee at 9:20 p.m.
Saint Peter’s is coached by Bashir Mason, a Jersey City native who has played and coached for Danny Hurley, the coach of UConn, the No. 1 team in the country.
Mason coached for 10 years at Wagner, where he was replaced two years ago by his best friend since childhood, Donald Copeland Jr., who played for Danny’s father, Bob Hurley Sr., at St. Anthony’s and starred at Seton Hall.
Oh, and: Bashir and Mason were both born on Feb 11, 1984.
Both played as youths for Copeland’s father, Donald Copeland Sr., on the Jersey City Boys and Girls Club.
And now, unbelievably, they’re both coaching their teams in the NCAA Tournament in the same region on the same day.
This stuff you cannot make up.
“The closeness and the connection of the whole thing and how it’s all happening, it’s gives us chills, goose bumps,’’ Mason told The Post Wednesday. “Even as I was pulling up here today, Wagner was walking out and I got to see Donald and his entire team. I was a kid there working at Wagner. I was 27 years old. I’m 40 now. That’s the place where I grew up coaching. It’s surreal.
“I want to win the game, but my connection to both programs … it’s bigger than just basketball.’’
An amazing twist of fate.
“You can’t draw it up any better,’’ Copeland told The Post. “Bash and I started together with my father coaching us at the Jersey City Boys and Girls Club. The journey for us started with basketball, and the relationship built from there. To be in this moment right now is special. We’re sharing it with each other.’’
Copeland’s Wagner team overcame Howard in Tuesday night’s First Four game to advance to Charlotte. The first call Copeland got after the win was from Mason.
“I called him from our locker room after we won our conference tournament and I told him, ‘If you thought you were making the NCAA Tournament without me, you’re crazy,’ ’’ Mason said. “And last night when we spoke, he said, ‘If you thought you were going to Charlotte without me, you’re crazy.’ ’’
Copeland recalled with a laugh Mason showing up at his house with the MAAC trophy the other day after Saint Peter’s defeated Fairfield in the title game.
“We got back from Atlantic City [site of the MAAC tourney] and he and I were talking on the phone and I’m asking him where he is and as we’re talking, I’m leaving campus and he lives five minutes from campus,’’ Mason said. “I got to his house, called him and said, ‘Come outside.’ When he came outside, I rolled the windows down and had the trophy in the passenger seat with a seat belt on.’’
Perhaps the only thing the two cannot settle on is who’s older. Copeland insists he’s older, that he was born in the morning of Feb. 11, 1984. Mason begs to differ — with evidence.
“I’m older,’’ Mason said. “He won’t produce his birth certificate. I’ve shown him mine. I was born at 8:12 a.m. I was born before him. He won’t give you a time, because he knows that I’m older than him. He’s the little brother. This has been going on for years.’’
This spirited back-and-forth is particularly moving for Donald Copeland Sr. because of his intimate connection to the two.
“They were always in the gym — they were gym rats,’’ Copeland Sr. said over the phone. “After games, we would come back to the Boys Club and they would wind up sneaking in the gym and playing and I’d have to chase them out, tell them, ‘It’s time to go home. We just came from a game and we have to lock up.’ ’’
Copeland Sr. is not in Charlotte this week. He said he gets too nervous to watch his son’s games.
“It’s too nerve-wracking for me,’’ he said. “I can’t watch the games. I watch a movie and every half hour check the score and then get back to the movie.’’
This entire week feels like a movie for these two programs.
Fate sometimes does that. When you least expect it.
