According to SBU’s beat writer for the Olean Times Herald J.P. Bulter, Jordan Gathers has played his last game as a Bonnie and is leaving the program. The news came down this evening and was really quite the shocker. Gathers averaged 8.2 points last year while shooting 36% from three and 80% from the line…both of which the Bonnies could have used in the final three months. He played 26 minutes a game last season and finishes his career at SBU with 411 points and 155 assists.

I won’t waste time speculation where Gathers is going or why he left the program mid-way through his senior year. I’m sure those questions will be answered sooner than later. The senior has been recovering from off-season hip surgery which can often be very serious. Schmidt was hoping he would be ready for the start of the season but it never happened.

Gathers graduated last week with his degree in Journalism/Communication, thus, he does have a year left (or a half of a year if he goes now) of illegibility to play elsewhere. It is possible that he goes somewhere right now and plays or transfers and plays a full season at another school next year as a grad. student. Either way, he will be missed.

The Bonnies could have really used a steady and experienced guard like Gathers for A10 play and now they’ll be without one. While he wasn’t a big time player in terms of production box-score wise, he was just the type of calm and heady player this team needed in late game situations. Gathers could have run the point spot in games and given the Bonnies a chance to rest Jay Adams…Gathers also likely would have been an upgrade in terms of an A/TO at that position.

He wouldn’t turn the ball over in a silly fashion. He wouldn’t take a stupid late game foul. Oh well, this is college basketball in 2014. Guys come and go like a revolving door. We wish him luck wherever he lands next but right now the news is a certainly a slight gut punch to the Bonnies’ chances going forward a bit. Guys like Posley, Cumberbatch, Jalen Adams and even Denzel Gregg are really going to have to step up and play a more mature brand of basketball from here out. There is no safety net of “When we get Jordan back” anymore. Of those guys, I’d really like to see Schmidt play Jalen more these next three games. This kid was so highly touted back in the fall and he’s become virtually a bench warmer. We have three games vs. poor teams upcoming. We are going to need him at some point so let’s give him another look here before 2015….that’s just my take though.

Finally we leave you with Gather’s greatest contribution to SBU hoops to end on a good note…no one will ever forget that shot.

The Opponent:  1-11 Binghamton out of the America East.

The Rundown:  This is going to be a really short preview, because there is no other way to say this: Binghamton is one of the worst teams in the country.

1-11.

Lost recently to non D1 Caldwell College.

Haven’t beat a D1 team.

Scoring 57 a game and giving up 70.

Haven’t won since Nov. 19th.

Their best player Jordan Reed (led them in scoring last year a freshman) is no longer on the team.

They rank in the 300s in just about every statistical category you can research.

Haven’t won a D1 game since 2/22/2014.

They are awful.

This is the first of a three game stretch where the Bonnies need to go out and just maul teams. This is the type of game where the second team guys are getting 12 minutes. Walks ons are expecting to see clock.  If this game is in any, any doubt at all inside of the last ten minutes it would surprise me. The line will likely be in the teens and we’re on the road. Their coach Tommy Dempsey said before the season he wanted to average between 75-80 points a game. The Bearcats are scoring 57.

Notable Alumni: Tony Kornheiser of PTI on ESPN. Billy Baldwin and the SUPER annoying girl who plays Flo on the Progressive Insruance commericals.

Starters returning from last season: 5, they were 7-24 last year and 4-12 in conference play. So they haven’t exactly built on last year.

Their best player(s): With a headcase like Reed gone (and boy Bingo has had their share of nutjobs over the past few years. Remember the kid Kovacevic (not Ivan) who was arrested for basically beating a small student halfway to death? I remember seeing him in street clothes when we played them and said to someone, “He looks like he’s in the Russian mob.”…I wasn’t far off.) the scoring has fell to 6-9 freshman Dusan Perovic whose their only player scoring in double figures. He’s a 45% shooter overall, but impressive 48% from three…A true stretch four, the Bonnies will have to mind his positioning on the offense end at all times. He’s not much of an insider presence however, grabbing just three boards a game and has only two blocks all season.

Their glaring weaknesses: Last week I said Pitt didn’t have any. Binghamton has too many to list. They suck. This team is 2006 Bonnies under Solomon bad. Honestly I’m not listing any one thing, they are horrible on both sides of the ball in basically every metric. Go look at their stat pages somewhere…it’s ugly. Buzz’s girlfriend in Home Alone ugly…Woof.

Their bad stats: I guess I’ll put some of them here to say I wrote the whole preview…339th in PPG, 293rd in rebounds, 339th in assists, 336th in FG%, 264th in points allowed per, 266th in rebounding and 323rd in steals per game. KenPom ranks them 340th in the country and has them winning two games the rest of the season. Again, they’re really bad.

Their good stats: They beat non-D1 Hartwick by 30 for their only win. Go look at that box score if you want to.

How Binghamton can win:  Honestly, there is close to no shot in hell we lose this game. I’m just being real. KenPom gives them an 11% chance of winning this one at home. They can win if we literally play the single worst game of the Mark Schmidt era. That’s what it would likely take. I refuse to even entertain the idea of losing this game. I’m not going to ruin my holiday season by thinking negative.

How the Bonnies can win:  Come off the bus as a team and give about 80% effort. If we play half as well as we did vs. Pittsburgh (and I don’t think we played all that well) this game will be a blowout. The only way this thing is close is if we totally look past this team and assume we’re going to beat them by 30. If that happens this could  be a game at the half. We have to hope that Schmidt and his staff have the guys ready to roll from the tip and have their guys like sharks surrounded by blood in the water. This is one of those games where if we come out and go up say 15-4, there is a 90% they fold up and we win by 21.

X-Factor: Energy. Like I stated above, SBU just needs to come with energy and come ready to play. Get off the bus, take this game as if you’re playing VCU at home and jump them from the tip. If we come out really lethargic we’re going to be asking for a closer game than we should play. Just have to be ready to compete and the rest will take of itself.  Basically, the team needs to take this game a lot more seriously than I am right now.

Three keys to victory:

1. Come with Energy and play hard in what’s going to be a pro-Bonaventure crowd I assume.
2. Hold them to under 35% shooting and just smoother them on defense.
3. Play a clean game (few turnovers, few offense boards and taking good shots).

Staff predictions: All went with W’s obviously. Let’s get this three game winning streak started right fellas. Blow this sorry team out for all the folks making the trip to Binghamton to watch the game.