By Anthony Gannon
Sports Editor
If you throw a rock around the corner, you’ll hit basketball season. In two, yes, two short weeks the Bonnies hit the hardwood for their first game of the 2012-2013 season.
Some would say exhibition games against Edinboro for the women’s team and Mansfield for the men’s team don’t matter and they should be easy wins for the Bonnies. On the contrary, these games matter very much. The women’s team deserves so much hype and support following the most successful season in program history. It took years of hard work to reach the NCAA tournament, let alone the Sweet 16.
Years of consistent success led to the Bonnies being one of the most notable mid-major teams in the country.
This year promises to be just as exciting as last.
There’s still the matter of that regular season Atlantic 10 Championship to uphold. The Reilly Center’s got a reputation to defend. There really is no question it will be defended, the question is of when, not if.
Either way Edinboro and Binghamton are the first two games for the women’s team in the Reilly. So we’ll practice on Edinboro.
There’s another one about to be raised to the roof for Coach Schmidt’s men.
With last season’s heavy losses in the post, this year’s team is retooling the offense and defensively has to learn how to handle the offensive adjustments other teams are going to make to try and exploit the shallow big man depth.
We know this is happening. We know Mark Schmidt is a coach.
These are facts proven to us in last year’s Atlantic 10 Tournament.
These Bonnies are going to emerge from the shadow cast by the fresh felt hanging in the rafters and set themselves apart in SBU lore.
We’re still three weeks from the official opening of the season, but the preview on display in the Reilly Center against Mansfield will unveil a new-look team with a lot of familiar faces.
It’s not even about winning without 44 at this point. It’s about the development and game we’ll see from a deep guard rotation.
Up and down the roster the Bonnies have players who can get the job done either starting or coming off the bench.
The versatility this team brings to the court is worth the trip to the RC Nov. 3rd. It’s about the Brown and White, but it’s about more than just ‘the Bonnies are taking the court again.’
The Reilly Center has championship basketball now. And the great shame of championship basketball is you don’t know your team is a champion until the end of the season.
This year’s team is in a unique and very pivotal position for the future of Bonnies’ basketball. With that being said, every year’s team is in that same position. So as much as things change, they certainly stay the same too.
But this year it feels even more unique and pivotal, and the raising of the banners will only add to that fire.
The one thing that Bonaventure fans wish would change although it never does is how long it takes for that first tip to go up once the final whistle sounds.
It’s so close you can almost hear it. Brooklyn, Brooklyn. Most definitely the Bonnies ain’t sleeping until they’re in the city that never sleeps.
