St Bonaventure

State of '08: New York

Shawn Siegel — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:11:24 -0400

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Duke or Carolina? BC or UMASS? Gonzaga or Washington.. or Washington State? What is the best program in each state? While there's not much competition in Hawaii.. there are great debates to be had in loaded regions like California, North Carolina, and Texas. The State of '08 is a ranking of every program in every state.. based mostly on recent success (the last five years) mixed in with subjective factors such as conference prestige, historical success, and overall program direction.

For more info, check out the State of '08 introduction.

NEW YORK

SYRACUSE - Led by one of the all-time great coaches, Syracuse has been a perennial power under Jim Boeheim. The Orange have missed the last two NCAA Tournaments, but should be back in 2009.

SIENA - Its been a good decade for Siena, with 3 NCAA Tournaments and 2 NIT trips. Last year, the Saints knocked off Vanderbilt in the opening round, and some pundits even think Fran McCaffery's crew has a chance to finish in the Top 25..

NIAGARA - With the exception of a poor 2006 campaign, Niagara has been very solid in the last decade. They've finished over .500 overall and in MAAC play in 9 of 10 seasons, and advanced to the Tournament in 2005 & 2007.

HOFSTRA - After the amazing job Jay Wright did at Hofstra around the turn of the century, Tom Pecora's tenure has been a bit more pedestrian (but still good for NY standards). The Pride did ride the shooting stroke of Loren Stokes to the 2007 NIT (their 3rd in a row), but were disappointing last year despite the return of Antoine Agudio.

MANHATTAN - Bobby Gonzalez led Manhattan to four postseason trips between 2002 and 2006. Barry Rohrssen hasn't been able to maintain that high standard, though this year's team has potential.

6. ST. JOHN'S - Once one of the game's top programs, St. John's still isn't close to getting out of the mess created by Mike Jarvis. The Storm haven't finished in the RPI Top 100 since 2003, and that futility should continue in 2009.

7. MARIST - Although the Red Foxes haven't had much success in the MAAC tournament the past three seasons, the team has been consistently dangerous and was invited to the 2007 NIT.

8. ALBANY - Unlike Binghamton and Stony Brook, who joined D1 and the AE around the same time, Albany has had some success in recent years. Will Brown, the Great Danes coach for pretty much their entire D1 existence, deserves credit for the job he's done. Brown led the team to the 2006 & 2007 NCAA Tournaments.

9. CORNELL - The Big Red have come a long way under Steve Donahue. When he took over in 2001, the program was one of the worst in the Ivy League. But their RPI has improved every season since 01 (from 311th to 65th in 08), and their Ivy League record has improved each season as well (though you can't top last year's perfect 14-0 run). Most expect Cornell to repeat as Ivy champs in 2009.

10. FORDHAM - Although Dereck Whittenburg has done a nice job getting Fordham back on track since taking over in 2003, there's still been no postseason trips and last year's team failed to meet lofty expectations.

11. WAGNER - With 23 wins last year, the Seahawks set a new record, although they missed out on the postseason. The program had accomplished little in the previous four seasons, unable to follow up on a good 02-03 run that culminated in a Tourney bid.

12. IONA - The Gaels have been all over the place in recent seasons. Great in 2006, with 23 wins and an NCAA bid. Horrendous in 2007 with just a 2-28 record. And then very mediocre last year.

13. BUFFALO - Long one of the country's worst programs, Buffalo is back to their losing ways after a rare winning spike from 2004 to 2006. In 2005, the Bulls were a few points from making their first NCAA Tournament in program history.

14. COLGATE - The Raiders are coming off their best season since 2002, an 18-win campaign that included two wins in the Patriot League tournament. 1996 was the last time they reached the conference finals.

15. BINGHAMTON - Less than a decade into their D1 existence, Bingamton is still looking for a breakthrough on the hardwood. 2nd year coach Kevin Broadus will be relying on a lot of transfers to push the Bearcats up the America East standings.

16. CANISIUS - 2001 was the last time Canisius was any good. 2009 should be another losing season, though fans are at least hopeful some of last year's young talent improves.

17. LIU - There hasn't been much to cheer about in the last decade as last year's 15 wins were the best in a decade. Since taking over in 2002, Jim Ferry's teams have won just one NEC Tournament game.

18. ST. FRANCIS - 2004 was the last time the Terriers were decent, and 2001 was the last time they were good. Last year was one of the worst in the program's history, with an RPI of 313 and a 4-14 NEC record.

19. ST. BONAVENTURE - Early in the decade, the Bonnies had a good run, until a string of poor choices, rules violations, and bad luck destroyed the program. Some progress has been made since the low of 2005 (2 wins), but Mark Schmidt and crew still have a long way to go.

20. COLUMBIA - I'm sure Columbia's good teams at some point in the past, but they were just before my time. Back to back 7-7 Ivy League seasons have been the peak of Joe Jones' five year tenure.

21. STONY BROOK - The Seawolves haven't won 10 games since 2005, and have never finished above 200th in the RPI. Most publications project a finish near the bottom of the AE in 2009.

22. ARMY - From 2003 to 2006, Army was not only the worst team in New York, but arguably the worst team in the country. They won just 11 D1 games in those four seasons, but have since returned to a more mediocre standard. Another sub-.500 season is a lock in 08-09.

Last: New Jersey - Next: North Carolina

State of '08: The Introduction (& State list/links)

Game Coverage: Wright State Holds Off Saint Bonaventure

Bill Kintner — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:39:00 -0500

DAYTON – Coming off a big buzzer-beater win against Miami and playing during the holidays in front of a small crowd the Wright State Raiders were prime targets to be upset at home by St. Bonaventure. With the Bonnies playing tough half-court defense the Raiders were able to avoid being upset at home by playing their own tough defense and making some timely shots to defeat St. Bonaventure 54-45.

Whenever Wright State (5-3) looked like they were going to blow the game wide open the Bonnies would whittle the score down to a one or two possession game.

In the second half Wright State came out and score three straight baskets on a jumper by Jordan Pleiman, a layup by Pleiman and a layup by Scottie Wilson to make it an 11 point lead at 35-24 with just over 17 minutes to play.

St. Bonaventure (5-7) fought back and finally got the deficit to four points when Tyler Benson tipped the ball in at the 8:34 mark.

Wright State got the lead back to six points on a layup by Wilson. The Bonnies then started shooting foul shots. Two by Michael Lee, two by Haley and another by Lee at the 5:55 mark and St. Bonaventure finally got it down to a one procession game at 43-40. That was as close at the Bonnies would get in the second half.

Wilson hit a jumper at the 5:37 mark followed by a 3-pointer by Vaughn Duggins who led the Raiders with 16 points to make it 48-40 with 3:45 left in the game.

After that the Raiders never let the lead slip under five and they made their foul shots to finish out the game.

“They play a lot of different defenses and it is hard to get in a rhythm on offense,” explained Wright State’s Vaughn Duggins. “We have got to get Uncle Mo (momentum) on our side. We have got to go into Christmas 6-3.”
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In the first half the teams went back and forth until Wright State got the lead to 12 when Todd Brown when hit a jumper at the 1:48 mark to make it 29-17. It was just 15 seconds later that Haley hit a jumper to cut the Raiders’ lead to 12 points.

Then a 3-pointer by St. Bonaventure’s Haley at the 59 second mark and finally a jumper by Zarryon Fereti at the 26 second mark to make it a five point Raider lead at 29-24 going into the half.

Wright State’s coach Brad Brownell liked the defense the Raiders played and how they held the Bonnies’ two leading scorers Fereti and Michael Lee to just 20 total points, but thought the offensive could have been better.

“There were more points to be had in this game (by Wright State),” said Brownell. “We wanted to make it difficult on Fereti and Lee and we limited them below their averages.”

St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt seemed to agree with Brownell.

“I think Duggins did a great job on Fereti and they did a good job on Lee,” said Schmidt. Schmidt did see a bright spot tonight. “You look at the 13th ranked team in the country (Butler) and they only scored 42 points and we did better than that (against the Raiders),” explained Schmidt.

Notes:
-The all-time series is tied 2-2
-This the first time since 1978 that St. Bonaventure has been held to below 50 points in back to back games. The last game Hampton beat the Bonnies 55-48.
-When asked about the embarrassingly low attendance of just under 3000 people Brownell had too much class to rip the sports fans in Dayton. He did say that the regular players are not affected too much, but the role players play a lot better in front of larger vocal crowds.
-St. Bonaventure has a 24-22 record against teams from the Horizon League.
-Saint Bonaventure’s next game is Sunday at Binghamton at 4 pm.
-Wright State’s next game is Saturday at Cal State Fullerton at 6 pm.

Washington State's Matthews to Transfer

Press Release — Thu, 10 May 2007 03:00:00 -0400

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Men’s basketball head coach Mark Schmidt announced on Thursday that shooting guard Chris Matthews will transfer to St. Bonaventure from Washington State University.

A 6-foot-4, 207-lb. guard, Matthews will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after he sits out the 2007-08 season per NCAA transfer guidelines.

“Chris has been exposed to and has played at the highest level of college basketball the last two years and his knowledge for the game and experience will be useful for our young players coming in,” said Schmidt. “He will have a chance to get comfortable with our system for a full season and will be one of the go-to guys in 2008-09. Chris’ ability to shoot the ball combined with his basketball IQ make him a threat on the offensive end and a bonafide A-10 player. We’re excited that Chris has decided to join our basketball family.”

Matthews averaged 3.7 points per game over 17 games last season on a Washington St. team that earned the No. 3 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament with a 25-7 regular season record. Matthews scored five points in eight minutes in the team’s loss to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. His best game of the season came against No. 7 Oregon when he tied a career-high with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, including two three-pointers.

During his two seasons with the Cougars, Matthews averaged 3.5 points per game and 10.9 minutes over 35 contests. He started three games as a freshman and scored a career-high 13 points against No. 16 Washington.

A native of Washington, D.C., Matthews played three seasons at National Christian Academy in Baltimore, Md. He helped lead National to back-to-back Beltway League Championships as a junior and senior. Matthews then transferred to Lutheran Christian Academy, a prep school in Philadelphia, where he averaged 13.0 points per game. Lutheran Christian Academy finished with a 35-3 record and was ranked the No. 5 prep school in the nation.

– SBU –