By Pat Tintle
Sports Editor
As the Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball schedule has just passed its halfway mark, the Bonnies currently sit at an underwhelming 12-8 (5-4). The team currently places eighth in the A-10 and has seven games to prepare for their bid in the all-telling Brooklyn tournament.
While the team has performed like conference champions in some games (think back to their win against Duquesne on Jan. 22), the Bonnies have played other games in which they appear outmatched by some lower-tier schools (remember that aggravating two-point loss to Maryland-Eastern Shore?).
But the Bonnies will take their biggest test so far this weekend, as they host A-10 rival Virginia Commonwealth University (17-4, 7-1), who is ranked 18th in the nation. Bona’s does not necessarily need to win this game, but they need to show that they can at least compete with one of the best programs in the country and not be one of VCU’s forgettable 20-plus point victories, as was the case with George Washington (16-6, 6-3) who fell to the Rams 72-48 on Jan. 27.
This season, the Bonnies may not have beaten too many high-caliber teams, but they have shown a blue-collar resilience against a few well-regarded schools. Their effort against Rhode Island on Jan. 25, when the Bonnies lost 53-48, proved that a small private school in a desolate area of Western New York could give a top-60 basketball team (according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index) a good run, especially considering the Bonnies were not playing in the friendly confines of the Reilly Center. And no basketball fan can forget Wednesday night’s win over Davidson. Junior guard Marcus Posley’s buzzer-beating floater sent the Bonnies home with the 62-61 victory and builds momentum for a team in desperate need of it.
Just as the team has seen its share of ups and downs throughout the season, so have individual players. Junior guard Marcus Posley, who averaged 17.1 points per game going into Wednesday night, has been held to single-digit points in his last two campaigns before the Davidson game. Those numbers are particularly concerning when looking at Posley’s 36-point performance against Duquesne only two weeks ago. Senior center Youssou Ndoye started non- conference play with moderate success, but as the conference schedule has heated up, his talent has flourished as the 7-foot-big man now averages 12.1 points and 10.7 boards per game. Ndoye will surely be a player opposing teams will target come the A-10 tournament, which means the Bonnies will need to find role players to perform above their expectations.
And the latest offensive power rise – junior forward Dion Wright – now ranks second on the team with 13.1 points per game, excelling in recent games against La Salle and Rhode Island, scoring more than 20 points in each of those contests. This is all coming from a player who was never scouted as a dangerous player when teams analyzed the Bonnies’ offense. Wright’s performance may be protecting Posley’s slump for now, but if the Bonnies want to be competitive in tournament play, both players need to be putting up numbers that make an impact – not just one or the other.
The A-10 Championship is just a little more than a month away at this point; the Bonnies have a lot of holes to fill. If the starting five can all play to their respective potentials simultaneously, then look for the Bonnies to cause some serious upsets once the Barclays Center opens its doors for A-10 teams on Mar. 11.
