+0 - 0  by

Bonnies have fallen and can’t get up

Thankfully, I didn’t waste my time watching St. Bonaventure’s abomination against Richmond. I didn’t plan on watching it. There were more important things to do on a Sunday afternoon than keep an eye on bad basketball.

After the embarrassing home loss to Dayton – Youssou Ndoye’s words, not mine – I was close to giving up on this season. Sunday was the last straw.

The Bonnies are going nowhere fast. I had been optimistic about this season. The Bonnies tend to do that to you. And, they’ll do it again soon. They’ll beat VCU then fold against Fordham. Get used to it.

What’s worse, it is becoming much more difficult to get excited about looking forward to next year and beyond. SBU’s youngest players haven’t been very good. Jaylen Adams has played a lot like a freshman. Denzel Gregg hasn’t improved much. Jalen Adams and Idris Taqquee can’t get off the bench. Jordan Tyson hasn’t even been traveling with the team.

Boy, did things start going downhill for the Bonnies on Dec. 19. That was the day the school announced Jordan Gathers wasn’t coming back. That was also the day Mark Schmidt ruptured his Achilles’ tendon.

Schmidt’s injury, according to the school, happened during practice. Maybe the coach was demonstrating to his guards how to feed the post.

Probably not. Ndoye, supposedly the Bonnies’ greatest asset, has a mere 10 field goal attempts over the last two horrendous losses. He’s only made three shots. He may as well have followed his good friend Jordan Gathers out the door.

Speaking of Gathers, the Bonnies could use a steady guard right about a now. Jay Adams and Marcus Posley combined to shoot 4-19 against Richmond. Andell Cumberbatch only plays as much as he does because Schmidt doesn’t have faith in his backups.

Since Dec. 19, that fateful day, the Bonnies have lost to Maryland-Eastern Shore and Delaware. They have been blown out by Dayton and Richmond. They played a bad game against Binghamton.

Yet, they somehow dominated UMass.. After that game, Schmidt tumbled to the floor in a scene that reached the widest regions of the World Wide Web.

Schmidt bounced right back up, but the Bonnies have been down ever since.

+ 0 - 0

A member of the class of 2008, Nolan spent four years as a student assistant with the program. He has written professionally for such outlets as espn.com/insider, Athlon Sports Magazines, Cox Sports Online and Blue Ribbon Previews. Ian was named one of the “140 Personalities to Follow in College Basketball” on twitter by The Sporting News.