By RYAN McDONOUGH
With the regular season in the rearview mirror and the Atlantic 10 Tournament on the horizon, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies have something else in mind heading into the post season.
The Bonnies are looking to make their way into the NCAA Tournament, something the program hasn’t done since the 2011-12 squad went all the way to the Sweet 16.
SBU has put together a rather impressive resume, as ESPN’s Bracketologist Charlie Creme has the Bonnies in his “First Four Out”.
But, the Bonnies might be worthy of even more. Here is SBU’s resume by the numbers:
-As of March 1, the Bonnies are ranked No. 30 in the NCAA RPI. That ranking is higher than 11 at-large teams in Creme’s March 1 bracket.
-The Bonnies have one win against teams ranked 1-25 in the RPI (1-2). That is equal to “Last Four In” to Villanova (1-1) and Purdue (1-5), and more than No. 8 seed N.C. State (0-5) and No. 7 seed Miami (0-6). The Bonnies one win is equal is at-large teams No. 8 seed Washington (1-6), No. 9 seed Kansas State (1-6) and No. 10 seed St. John’s (1-4).
-Over the course of the season, the Bonnies claimed two wins (2-0) against teams ranked 26-50 in the RPI, which is more than “Last Four In” Purdue (1-0), Auburn (0-4), Temple (1-1) and “First Four Out” Duke (1-2), Minnesota (1-1), USC (1-2) and more than every “Next Four Out” team. Compared to teams “In” according to Creme, SBU has more 26-50 wins than N.C. State (1-2), Indiana (1-3), South Florida (1-1), Washington (1-1) and Kansas State (1-3). They have as many as St. John’s (2-2).
-With three Top-50 wins, the Bonnies have more top 50 RPI wins than 10 of Creme’s at-large teams: Purdue (2), Auburn (2), George Washington (2), Duquesne (2), Miami (2), Indiana (2), South Florida (2), Kansas State (2), Washington (2) and N.C. State (1).
-Against teams ranked 51-100, St. Bona is 4-2.
-The Bonnies are 7-4 against teams in the RPI Top 100. That is more than “Last Four in” Auburn (4-10) and Temple (5-8), and “In” teams N.C. State (4-9), Miami (5-6) and Kansas State (5-10). Bona’s seven Top-100 wins are equal to St. John’s (7-7), South Florida (7-7) and GW (7-4).
-The Atlantic 10 finished the regular season as the No. 7 ranked conference in overall RPI. The A-10 is the highest ranked non-power conference.
-16, Coincidence? I think not… – In the 2015-16 season, the Bonnies pulled of a 16 game win streak mid-season. The last time the program pulled off a streak of that length happened in 2011-12, and that team ended up going to the Sweet 16. SBU was also a perfect 16-0 at home this season, its first unbeaten-at-home season.
-Historic season- The Bonnies earned 23 total regular-season wins this season, the most since 2011-12 (27).
-St. Bona’s 12 Atlantic 10 wins are the most since 2011-12 (14) as well.
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