By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team will play 5,318 feet above sea level on Tuesday night.
Boulder, Colo.’s CU Events Center has, due in part to its high altitude and in a great deal to the program’s success, been a haven for the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado is 132-29 at home over the last 10 seasons, a winning percentage (.820) proportional to Dayton at UD Arena (.843) and VCU at the Siegel Center (.834).
The Bonnies encounter a 21-win team in that challenging environment when they play their first round National Invitation Tournament (NIT) game on Tuesday night (11 ET, 9 MT, ESPN2). Despite traveling farther than the other road teams participating in the event, and meeting a stiff test against a team that defeated NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed Arizona last month, Bona is embracing its postseason opportunity.
“There’s a lot of teams that would love to be in the NIT,” Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt remarked. “It’s not the NCAA but it’s a pretty prestigious tournament. It’s really hard to get into, especially in the last four or five years since they’ve changed the rules (awarding automatic bids to regular season conference champions who are not invited to the NCAA Tournament). So we’re excited about it.”
The Buffaloes conducted a similar end-of-season run as Bona, winning seven of their last eight regular season games and finishing fourth in the Pac-12 Conference with a 12-8 league record. They defeated Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal round last Thursday before falling in a season series rubber match with eventual champion Arizona in the semifinals. Head coach Tad Boyle has led four consecutive 20-win campaigns, missing the postseason just once in his tenure.
Boyle’s program made a run to the 2011 NIT semifinal as the No. 1 seed in its region. Colorado features all-conference forwards Jabari Walker and Evan Battey as it pursues a similar run this year.
Colorado is young, Battey the only healthy scholarship senior. The Buffs offset their inexperience in size, ranking 25th in the nation in average height according to KenPom.com. They started three forwards 6-foot-8 or taller (Battey, Walker and Tristan Da Silva) last contest and played 6-foot-8 guard Luke O’Brien 19 minutes off the bench. They rank tied for 32nd nationally in rebound rate and attempt over 19 free throws a night, 64th in Division I.
Walker, the son of 10-year NBA veteran Samaki Walker, nearly averages a double-double with 14.9 points and 9.4 rebounds a game.
The Bonnies played seven of the 100 tallest teams in the country in the regular season, compiling a 4-3 record (wins over Boise State, Canisius, Marquette and Saint Joseph’s; losses to Connecticut, Davidson and Dayton).
“They’ve got big bodies. They’ve got power-five bodies,” Schmidt noted. “And that’s not unusual. When you play a power-five team, that’s what you expect. That’s why it’s gonna be a challenge for us, but we’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can withstand their size and we can play well.”
Bonaventure must also defend the 3-point line against a top 30 3-point shooting team. Colorado shoots 37 percent as a team from beyond the arc, with Battey and Walker contributing over a third (77) of the team’s made 3-pointers. Though not reliant on the outside shot, the Buffaloes made 16 3s in the Pac-12 semis; Walker hit five of six.
“They’re a good team. They’re a talented team,” Schmidt assessed. “They wouldn’t be in the NIT if they weren’t. … They’re a talented bunch of guys and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
Bona rarely meets the Pac-12 Conference, with just 11 all-time matchups against the league. SBU last played Colorado on New Year’s Day 1942 in Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium, with Colorado prevailing 52-28. The Bonnies last played in the state of Colorado on Jan. 5, 2013 against Colorado State, a 21-point loss.
As for the altitude, Schmidt said there is not much Bonaventure can prepare for in one day.
“We’re just gonna go out there and we’re gonna try to play as well as we can,” Schmidt said, “and see what happens.”
This is St. Bonaventure’s 17th appearance in the NIT. The Bonnies are 17-17 all-time in the tournament.
Leave a Reply