In Brief
The 2011-12 Bonnies begin the season with high expectations in their fifth year under head coach Mark Schmidt. St. Bonaventure returns four starters from last year’s squad that posted the school’s first winning record (16-15) and postseason appearance (CBI) since 2001-02.
Leading From the Front
Senior All-America candidate Andrew Nicholson enters his final season in the Brown and White. The 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward from Mississauga, Ont. has racked up some impressive accolades thus far – A-10 Rookie of the Year, First and Second Team All-Conference selections, Wooden & Naismith Award nominations – and looks to continue that trend for one last run.
Scouting the Big Red
Cornell enters the year picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League after finishing 10-18 one year ago. The Big Red return senior and leading scorer Chris Wroblewski. Last season, he led the Ivy League in steals, ranked second in assists, and sixith in scoring. Wroblewski is a nominee for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard for the second straight season.
Last Year Against Cornell
Last season in Ithaca, St. Bonaventure mounted a late comeback to defeat the Big Red, 56-54. Demitrius Conger recorded then career-highs of 22 points with 14 rebounds, and Andrew Nicholson booked a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards. The Bonnies overcame an 11-point second half deficit with a 13-2 run to defeat host Cornell.
Cornell Head Coach Bill Courtney
Bill Courtney enters his second year as head coach of the Big Red. In his first season at the helm, Cornell posted a 10-18 record including a 6-8 mark in Ivy League play. Courtney took over a program that had lost four starters and eight seniors — including two All-Americans and three first-team All-Ivy picks — from the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16 squad.
Moving Up in the World
St. Bonaventure is picked to finish fourth in the league preseason poll, the highest since SBU was slotted second in the East division prior to the 2002-03 campaign. Last year, the Bonnies were picked second-to-last among 14 A-10 schools, but far exceeded expectations by finishing seventh, the biggest disparity between preseason prediction and postseason finish in the league.
Three-Headed Monster
Three seniors return for their final campaign in F Da’Quan Cook, G Mike Davenport and F Andrew Nicholson. Cook is in his fifth year at SBU and is the only remaining holdover from previous coach Anthony Solomon. Over their three years together, the duo have forged a 46-46 record and are already guaranteed to be the school’s winningest class in 10 years.
Out With the Old
Four players from last year’s roster have moved on: G Ogo Adegboye (graduation, now playing professionally in Cyprus); F Brett Roseboro (transferred to UMBC); G Sam de Haas (signed professional contract in Holland); and non-scholarship walk-on Jamil Goodwin (transferred to Independence CC in Kansas).
In With the New
Five new players joined the fold in the offseason: freshman G Jordan Gathers; freshman F/C Youssou Ndoye (YOU-sue EN-doy); sophomore G Charlon Kloof (SHAR-lon); junior F Chris Johnson; and junior G Eric Mosley. The quintuplet are expected to contribute immediately and provide great depth to the Bonnies’ roster.
Can He Do It?
Nicholson ranks 13th on the Bona all-time scoring ledger (1,512 points) and could become the school’s all-time leading scorer if he averages 26.8 points over 27 scheduled games. He led the A-10 and ranks as the nation’s No. 3 returning scorer after averaging 20.8 in 2010-11.
Dangerous From Deep
Junior swingman Demitrius Conger made 40.4 percent of his 3-pointers last season (36-89), the eighth highest single-season percentage in school history. If sophomore sharpshooter Matthew Wright can maintain the pace he set to close out the year (25 for his final 61, 40.9 percent) the Bonnies could have a deadly duo from deep.
Battle on the Block
Redshirt senior F Da’Quan Cook and redshirt junior F Marquise Simmons are likely to battle for the starting “4” spot in the preseason. Cook did start all 31 games last season, but Simmons – who missed the first nine games with a hand injury – played more minutes in seven of those games and posted a higher per-minute rebound average.
Davenport Nearing 1,000
Senior G Michael Davenport is just 299 points away from reaching the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He would become the 39th player in school history to reach the barrier if he averages 11.1 points over 27 scheduled games.
International Flavor
The Bonnies have five players who hail from places other than the United States. Senior F Andrew Nicholson and sophomore G Matthew Wright come from Mississauga and Toronto, Ontario, respectively. Sophomore G Charlon Kloof is a Paramaribo, Suriname native who relocated to the Netherlands at age four, while freshman F Youssou Ndoye hails from Dakar, Senegal. Junior F Chris Johnson – another Canadian – is from North Preston, Nova Scotia.
A Legend “Lives On”
Freshman G Jordan Gathers is the nephew of Loyola Marymount great Hank Gathers, one of only two players in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in both scoring and rebounding. Hank Gathers collapsed on the court during a West Coast Conference quarterfinal game on March 4, 1990 and subsequently died due to a heart condition. Jordan Gathers, whose Twitter handle is @44LivesOn, will wear No. 5 for the Brown and White.
Home Cooking
Ten of the Bonnies’ 16 wins last season occurred in the Reilly Center, the most since the team won 11 games at home during the 2000-01 campaign. That team also reached the postseason, earning a berth in the NIT.
Rolling in the Deep
After spending last year with just 10 scholarship players on the roster, the Bonnies are markedly deeper this season with five new additions and increased experience across the board. SBU used the same starting five in all 31 games last season, with four of those five players averaging at least 32 minutes per game.
Globe-Hopping
Sophomore transfer Charlon Kloof has had an interesting path to St. Bonaventure. The Paramaribo, Suriname native was born in South America, moved to Holland at age four and attended JUCO in North Carolina, all before a prep year at Canarias Basketball Academy in Spain’s Canary Islands.
“Defining Our Legacy”
St. Bonaventure’s slogan for the 2011-12 basketball season is “Defining Our Legacy.” The slogan, created by SBU senior Spencer Timkey, captures the high hopes of both the senior-laden men’s and women’s basketball teams.
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