0
0
A Take On Bona At Conference Championship
The national picture is all but clear right now and there will be snubs and what have you. However, the brown and white of Saint Bonaventure University have bigger worries. They need to defeat Saint Louis to lock in the number four seed in Brooklyn at the conference championships. Boy, they have some work to do. I just don’t know if the dance is a feasible goal for Mark Schmidt, at least not yet.
Saint Bonaventure has a crazy bright future ahead. Osun Osunniyi and Kyle Lofton are all it takes to make a team that has the potential to be an A-10 powerhouse. Both of them have been playing together for a long time and they were teammates at Putnam Academy in the state of New Jersey. Together, they won the national prep school title. The duo is really dangerous playing for the Bonnies of Saint Bonaventure. Lofton is averaging just over 14 PPG and Osunniyi is pulling down an impressive 7.6 rebounds per contest. Osunniyi also possesses crazy blocking skills. On average, he blocks 2.6 shots per game. Junior Jalen Poyser is averaging 9.9 PPG and is only playing 26 minutes on the floor.
So my expectations for them in Brooklyn? They will start out very strong at the tournament, but a voice tells me VCU is going to come around and hand them a hard fought tough loss. It will be just the opposite of that contest. This will be a back and forth cutthroat, a scrappy dogfight. The Davidson Wildcats are another threat of course, but I think fans are sleeping and don’t think the Bonnies will make the title bout. No, I am not saying they will, but if I have to predict. I don’t see why they can’t see that happening. It is still a bit early yet because the team plays Friday against the winner of game number four.
As for the experts, they were already wrong. Mark Schmidt and his squad of Bonnies were predicted to finish nearly dead last and it certainly looked that way for quite some time. The Bonnies ended up getting very comfortable and going on a small streak of six straight victories. Most notably, they beat George Washington on the GW campus. Traditionally, this is a tough place for the teams in the past to play at. They dropped a tough one with Davidson for a second time, now what will happen? I don’t know, but, the Bonnies have checked all of the boxes I needed them to check. Now, they are in pursuit of some additional boxes.
The question remains, how will the battle shake out for the A-10 conference? We will find out March13th-17th at Barclays Center.
Author Profile
