By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Editor’s note: As this calendar year comes to a close and 2020 fast approaches, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program is wrapping up one of its most memorable decades. The “Bonnies Basketball Decade In Review” series takes a look back at the players, games and moments that defined the 2010s.
Today, Chuckie Maggio look backs on the five biggest “What Ifs” of the decade and the effects they would have had on the program.
5. What if everyone stayed off the court after the 2017 VCU game?
The most infamous in-game moment of St. Bonaventure’s decade, which coach Mark Schmidt termed a “travesty,” could have been avoided by multiple parties. After the A-10 erroneously blamed the Bonaventure student section for storming the court early, disproved by video evidence that showed the students did not rush until after the clock hit zero, the league attributed the one-shot technical foul to a litany of factors.
A security guard picked up the ball after Matt Mobley’s three-pointer with 0.4 seconds left, which caused a delay before VCU could inbound as VCU guard Doug Brooks went to retrieve it. At the same time, a non-student fan entered the court area and made contact with an official. The officials were later disciplined internally for not immediately stopping play, but the damage was done: JeQuan Lewis made the technical free throw to tie the game and force overtime, where VCU went on to win.
VCU followed that victory with another last-second win at George Washington via a charge after they trailed, once again, with 0.4 seconds left. The escapes galvanized the Rams, who won nine straight games and secured the second seed in the A-10 Tournament. They later earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Bonaventure’s season went a different direction. After entering the VCU game 6-3 in conference play, the Bonnies alternated wins and losses for most of the final stretch. Their season ended in the A-10 quarterfinal, with no NIT invite.
If Bonaventure was not assessed the technical against VCU, and VCU did not get the charge call against GW, SBU and VCU would have tied for fourth place in the A-10 at 12-6. Bonaventure would have earned the tiebreaker due to its head-to-head win.
VCU’s postseason status is on shaky ground in that scenario. Does the double-bye help the Bonnies get into the postseason?
4. What if Courtney Stockard never broke his foot?
It’s been well-documented that Stockard, who enrolled at Bona in the summer of 2015 after playing two years of junior college ball, was sidelined his first two years with foot injuries. Stockard broke a bone in his foot in a 2015 preseason practice, then re-injured the same foot before the 2016-17 campaign. Once healthy, he was the hero of the 2018 NCAA First Four win over UCLA and made the All-Atlantic 10 First Team in 2019.
If Stockard never suffered those injuries, he would have added more offense to two prolific squads; Bona averaged 77.7 points a game in 2015-16 and a league-best 76.8 points in ‘16-’17.
The Bonnies may have had enough firepower to upset Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Nov. 17, 2015, a game where Bona shot just 36 percent and badly needed a second half lift. He could have been the missing piece on Dec. 22, 2015 at Siena, when Bona received just eight points from players other than Jaylen Adams, Denzel Gregg, Marcus Posley and Dion Wright and fell by three in Albany. If SBU won those two non-conference games, it would have been more difficult for the NCAA selection committee to keep them out in March (more on that later).
The flip side, of course, is that Stockard would have graduated in May 2017. He would not have been there to contribute to the 2017-18 Maryland, Vermont, Syracuse, VCU, Davidson and UCLA wins, among others. He would not have led the young 2017-18 group all the way to the A-10 title game. Would either season have been as successful without him?
If you’re going to go down this rabbit hole, make sure you have plenty of time on your hands.
3. What if Bonaventure didn’t go to the First Four?
Bona Nation fondly reminisces about that Tuesday night now, when the Bonnies were the only game in town and took down blueblood UCLA at UD Arena. But on Selection Sunday, there was much hand wringing and consternation about Bona being sent to Ohio for a “play-in” game.
SBU showed considerable signs of fatigue in the Round of 64 loss to Florida in Dallas two days after that First Four. The team took a red-eye flight to Texas following the game and had a short turn-around before it had to play the Gators.
Bona wasn’t excluded from the dance like 2016 (more on that later). But a 25-win group with 13 wins in its last 14 games, as well as non-conference wins against Buffalo, Maryland, Syracuse and Vermont, needing to play in the First Four raised eyebrows.
The Bonnies could have used the extra time between games, especially if they were going to make a deep tournament run. Conversely, they might have lost the Round of 64 contest to a quality opponent and watched the NCAA Tournament win drought extend another year, with no postseason wins to show for one of the best years in school history.
Defeating UCLA was one of those forever wins that a school in different circumstances, belonging to a conference viewed more generously by the selection committee, may never experience.
2. What if Pitt chose Mark Schmidt?
Mark Schmidt interviewed for Pittsburgh’s head coaching vacancy after the 2018 tourney run and was seriously considered to lead the Panthers’ rebuild after an 8-24 season.
There was a warranted unease around Olean for a little over a week. Why wouldn’t Schmidt, who guided a laughingstock back to national prominence, be a natural fit at an ACC school with a plethora of resources to offer a man who had mastered doing more with less? Why wouldn’t Schmidt accept the position if offered, considering his competitive nature and family’s ties to the area?
If Schmidt made the move, not a soul would have harbored hard feelings; he’d contributed more than enough to the school and program. But Pitt chose Duke assistant Jeff Capel, who has molded the Panthers into one of the nation’s strongest defensive squads.
Bona is clearly pleased with how things turned out, too; the administration hasn’t needed to launch a nationwide head coaching search in almost 13 years.
1. What if St. Bonaventure made the 2016 NCAA Tournament?
The chant rang throughout the Reilly Center before SBU’s NIT game against Wagner, the product of three days of simmering anger in Bona land.
“WE GOT SNUBBED! WE GOT SNUBBED! WE GOT SNUBBED!”
The 2015-16 Bonnies were one of the most stunning omissions in NCAA Tournament history. They entered Selection Sunday with 22 wins, a share of the A-10 regular season championship and a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rank of 29th nationally, but were the first team out that night. No team had ever won a share of its conference’s regular season title and finished in the top 30 of the RPI and not been selected for the big dance.
“I think what they did to St. Bonaventure was a disgrace,” then-St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli told CBS Sports Radio. “They changed the criteria team-by-team… (St. Bonaventure) got mistreated by this committee.”
The NCAA First Four in Dayton, which included 19-13 Vanderbilt and 20-11 Tulsa, did nothing to help the selection committee’s case. Vanderbilt lost by 20 to Wichita State, while Tulsa lost 67-62 to Big 10 eight-seed Michigan.
There is no guarantee the Bonnies would have defeated their First Four opponent, but they were 4-2 against tournament teams and certainly had more quality wins than Tulsa, which didn’t even hold a viewing party because the program didn’t think it had a chance.
If Bona had been in the Golden Hurricanes’ place and beaten Michigan, a Round of 64 game with Notre Dame would have been next on Friday. That contest would have been played in SBU’s unofficial second home: Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
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