BROOKLYN, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure’s last chance to end their season on a high note begins Wednesday at the Barclays Center.
The Bonnies (18-12, 9-9) received the No. 7 seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 tournament and will play the winner of No. 10 La Salle and No. 15 George Washington. They lost to both teams by double digits this season. The Brown and White squandered a chance at a top-four seed and double-bye in the A10 tournament by losing to GW in Foggy Bottom on Wednesday.
For head coach Mark Schmidt’s group, the 2023-24 regular season was anything but consistent.
Not too long ago, the Bonnies looked like they were hitting their stride just at the right time. They took down Loyola Chicago convincingly, who earned a share of the regular season conference title. The win over the Ramblers paved a clear path to a double-bye in Brooklyn. They had to take care of GW and Saint Louis, who are both at the bottom of the conference standings.
Then, they dropped both games to stumble into postseason play.
Through periods of positive momentum and confusing losses, Schmidt mentioned that his group continues to worry about what’s next, not stewing on the past.
“We can beat anybody,” Schmidt said after the loss to Saint Louis. “I heard a quote the other day, that you have to be humble enough in this league to know that if you don’t play well you’re going to lose. But, you have to be confident enough to know that if you play well you have a chance to win. We’ve proven (that).”
He’s right. That adage encapsulates the conference schedule for the Bonnies. They swept both VCU and UMass. They beat Loyola Chicago and came close to taking down Dayton. But often struggled against some of this year’s A10 bottom feeders.
They can beat anyone, but they can lose to anyone also.
Now, St. Bonaventure has a clean slate. Even though they always maintained a mentality of focusing on one game at a time, their season is only the next game from here on out.
How can St. Bonaventure keep their season alive in Brooklyn?
The Bonnies need to await the result of La Salle vs. George Washington on Tuesday to fully plan for their first game in Brooklyn. But, they have plenty of tape and experience to learn from no matter who they see on the floor.
La Salle beat the Bonnies 72-59 Feb. 21 at Tom Gola Arena, before GW got the best of the Brown and White 86-75 in Foggy Bottom. In both losses, Bona’s got beat on the glass, which was an issue in their most recent loss on Senior Day to Saint Louis.
St. Bonaventure grabbed 32.6 rebounds per game (RPG) during the regular season, a mark that is 311th in the country. But, they have a +0.9 rebounding margin on the year. They can, and often do, come out with a positive over their opponents on the boards. But when they don’t, it’s a problem.
Graduate senior Charles Pride leads the team with 5.7 RPG. He’s one of the best rebounders coming from the guard spot across the nation. Starting forward Assa Essamvous (5.2 RPG) and big man Chad Venning (5.0 RPG) are also key contributors in securing possession. Barry Evans, the versatile second-year forward, averages five rebounds off the bench.
Schmidt mentioned that rebounding the ball better is a clear focus area for improvement heading into the A10 tournament. Against Saint Louis, his team was -17 on the glass.
Venning, the team’s offensive cog, found himself in foul trouble early on Saturday against the Billikens. Backup big Noel Brown hurt his ankle, according to Schmidt, which kept him from contributing his normal minute load against SLU. Evans played as a small-ball five man in support, which gave the team energy. But Schmidt doesn’t want to play him at the five for a long period of time due to size.
Brown has looked great this as a second-big, but if his ankle injury lingers, Venning will need to stay out of foul trouble at Barclays.
If the Bonnies can get by La Salle or GW, their next opponent would be the A10 regular season co-champion Loyola Chicago Ramblers. Bona’s beat them 79-64 Feb. 27 at the Reilly Center. LUC recovered from that loss and rattled off three wins in a row over Dayton, Davidson and La Salle. Drew Valentine’s squad is rolling. They’d love a date to seek revenge against the Bonnies.
But as Schmidt said, anyone can beat anyone in the A10. And anyone can lose to anyone. Just as St. Bonaventure’s conference schedule has shown.
Featured image courtesy of Dan Nelligan (SBUnfurled/A10 Talk)
