Bona wary of the challenge presented by Florida State

By Paul Casey Gotham

Daunting is the task lying in front of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. The Atlantic Coast Conference champion, Florida State Seminoles, stand in the way, a team coming off back-to-back victories over top ten ranked North Carolina and Duke.

“They’re really good,” said Bona coach Mark Schmidt at yesterday’s pre-game press conference. “You don’t win the ACC Tournament with bad players and bad coaches. Beating Duke and Carolina, that’s all you need to know about how good they are.”

Florida State, with a field goal percentage defense ranked fifth in the country (.381),  limited the Tar Heels to 28-of-71 (39.4 percent) from the floor including 5-of-20 from behind the arc. The Blue Devils also shot under 40 percent against the Seminoles hitting 19-of-51 and a similar 5-of-20 from long range.

“We know we have a great challenge ahead of us,” Schmidt continued.  “They’re a great defensive team, fifth in the country.   We have a lot to work against.  But, at the same time, we’re going to go out and play, and hopefully what we can give them a little bit of trouble.”

Xavier Gibson and Bernard James lead a Florida State front court which averages 5.9 blocks per game.

“They’re big, long, physical, athletic,” said Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson.  “Got to outwork them.  The one that plays the hardest will do it.”

“They’re an ACC team,” added SBU’s Matthew Wright. “They have good shooters.  They’ve experienced big men, but at the end of the day, they have to guard us, too.”

FSU’s offense is led by junior guard Michael Snaer.

“Not only can he shoot the ball, he can take you off the bounce,” Schmidt explained. “Lot of guys are one dimensional, and you can guard those guys.  If a guy can just shoot, you jam him. Snaer can do both.  When he’s shooting the ball from the perimeter, he’s really a hard guard.”

Sophomore Charlon Kloof will draw the assignment of slowing down Snaer who 14.5 points and two assists per game.

“He’s athletic,” Kloof said. “Also a good on-ball defender and can do pretty much everything a little bit on offense, but our game plan doesn’t really change because we just got to play our game.  We got to play our defense.  We’re just going to make it a team effort and not — don’t try to let it be a one-on-one team but just five against the ball.”

The game marks the first meeting between the two schools. FSU and SBU played three similar opponents this season. The Bonnies lost to both North Carolina and Virginia Tech while splitting with UMass.  The Seminoles beat Virginia Tech twice and took one each from N.C. State and UMass.

“I would say that if there was a team in our league, it would be U Mass, long, athletic,” Schmidt said when asked to compare Florida State to teams in the Atlantic 10.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m.  The winner advances to play the victor from the Texas/Cincinnati matchup.