By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The calls for “one more year” for St. Bonaventure’s decorated senior class will temporarily give way to, at minimum, “one more game” together.
St. Bonaventure will visit Colorado in Boulder in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on Tuesday, the program’s 17th appearance in the NCAA’s second-tier postseason event. The Bonnies are the No. 5 seed in their region of the bracket and, with a win, would either travel to Oklahoma University or host Missouri State in the second round of the 32-team tournament. The semifinal round and championship game will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Bona last played in the NIT in 2016, losing to Wagner in the first round at the Reilly Center. SBU won the 1977 tournament in dramatic fashion, winning each of its four games by four points or fewer. Greg Sanders earned MVP honors after scoring 40 points in the title game victory over Houston.
Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt called making the 1999 NIT semifinal round as a Xavier University assistant “one of the greatest experiences of [his] life” in Friday’s postgame press conference.
“If we have the opportunity to do that,” Schmidt remarked, “I would think that we would take it.”
The contest will tip off at 11 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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