We’re Back! And, what happened while we were gone.

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Well, we took some time off to rest up but a few months later we’re about ready to turn the power back on and kick off the 2015-2016 season. We hope the summer was as good to you as it was to us. The weather has been hot, the Mets have been even hotter and despite the fact that my mind is still very much focused on my beloved baseball club from Queens (and my NY Giants who will likely struggle this year) it is time to cover our favorite team of all…the Bonnies.

Quite a bit has happened since we last posted with any regularity, so here’s a quick recap of some of the activity we missed while tanning and sipping cold brews on the beach…Here’s five items of import with a quick hit on each.

1. The Schedule was released….finally- The Bonnies were scrambling to fill out the schedule and finally it was released and not a week or so before football season. I cannot remember a schedule being released so late but when it came out it was pretty much what you thought it would be: a run-of-the-mill SBU schedule. SBU will play host to a bunch of teams they should best (Binghamton, Loyola, Hofstra, Vermont, Ohio, SC State, Niagara) and given the green roster this makes sense. Schmidt certainly doesn’t mind his club beating up some lesser foes early in the fall and that’s ok with me as well. As for the road games, SBU does have a marque game when they travel to Syracuse (wish we got them last fall…) and also visit Canisius, Siena and Buffalo. If nothing else new AD Tim Kenney must love Schmidt’s ability to stay in state and avoid any flights…heck, I heard the team is going up and back the same day to each of those games (not really…but Mark if you could do that it would be great…). I would have liked to see one or two more serious foes on this slate (Think good mid-majors), but I’m ok with this schedule. One of our new contributors Mike Morgan, will have more detailed breakdown of the schedule in the coming days so check back for that.
2. We added talent to help right now- We did check in on the incoming freshman in the spring (and interviewed them too) but while we were gone the Bonnies landed a big time recruit from the great white north in Nelson Kaputo. Nelson (AKA King of the North) is a big time pass-first point guard who should play major minutes from day one. Schmidt has said he could see Nelson and our man Swaggy J on the floor at the same time giving SBU two quality ball-handlers on the floor at once. It will be interesting to see if the Bonnies roll with an early lineup of Adams-Kaputo-Posley-Wright-Gregg. This would be a tough-to-guard lineup, especially if Wright and Gregg added a more consistent mid-range/deep jumper this off-season. When Wright was canning 3 balls against Dayton in Brooklyn I almost had a seizure on press row…more of that please. Courtney Stockard (Juco) was also added, he’s a 6-5 guard that will get a look. At this point you have no idea what to expect from Stockard who averaged 23 points a game in junior college. Remember Lewis Leonard? He averaged like 46 a game (or 20-something) as a Juco and came to Bonas and literally saw as much clock as I did handing out waters. Let’s hope Courtney can play 20-ish minutes a night and play at an A10 level when on the floor. It would be a big bonus if he could be counted on to be a quality role player from year one.
3. We added talent to help next year and beyond- Schmidt got on the old flip phone this summer and landed a few transfers in David Andoh (Liberty) and Matt Mobley (Cen. Conn. State). Those two will have to sit out this season but will help replace Dion Wright and Marcus Posley when they depart come next spring. Really nice job here by Schmidt landing two guys to fill that void. I’d expect both to play major, major minutes in 2016-2017. Also, nice of Schimidt to get off Barlett for an afternoon to land these two. Lord knows Mark loves his golf.
4. We lost our projected center to injury- We learned last week that Jordan Tyson will be out the entire season with a hand injury. This would appear to be a significant blow to the Bonnies who could have used Tyson’s 6-10 frame this season given the loss of Chris Dees….and….who else….oh yeah, Youssou Ndoye. Now, the Bonnies will be forced to play very small and play very thin. Hopefully our guards shoot it well enough to make this lineup work or else it could be a long season. Another thing to consider is whether or not Tyson will want to stay at SBU for six years and pull a Marquise Simmons. Tyson will now essentially sit two full seasons, let’s hope he heals quickly, develops a LOT while out and decides to lace em’ up for us until 2029 when when his eligibility is up….or that has a serious interest in a masters degree or three…
5. We added a team of contributors to beef up our staff- As we head into our second full on season we are really excited to add a bunch of awesome folks coming on to help. Jon May, Mike Morgan, Cody Didas, Brad Stevens, and our sister Michaela are all going to contribute this year in various fashions. We are hoping to increase our coverage both in terms of quality as well as quantity with our new additions. There’s actually no doubt we have more depth than the current roster.

Check back in the coming weeks for player previews, a preview of the schedule, as well as staff predictions and a look around the A10. We look forward to having a great season covering the team and hope that each of our readers find the site a notch better than last year. As always, thanks for reading!

-Go Bonnies!