PHOTO COURTESY OF GOBONNIES
BY JONNY WALKER, ADVISORY EDITOR
If St. Bonaventure men’s basketball head coach Mark Schmidt has access to a panic button, now’s the time to hit it.
With a 54-50 loss to Duquesne Tuesday night, Bona has lost four of its last five. In a pivotal Atlantic 10 Conference matchup — and with a chance to get back to .500 in conference play — the Bonnies appeared inexplicably lackadaisical and uninspired.
They managed just 15 points in a first half that included nine turnovers, 0-7 shooting from three and a single trip to the free-throw line. Bona’s guards routinely got stood up trying to penetrate Duquesne’s defense, often having to pick up their dribbles and awkwardly pass out not from the paint, but from two feet inside the 3-point arc. They forced up wild, erratic shots that seemingly missed the rim more often than they found the bottom of the net — especially in crunch time.
Bona shot so poorly Tuesday night that commentators on the TV broadcast were all but forced to joke about the game’s absurd number of airballs midway through the first half.
But, like any Mark Schmidt offense, it started with the big man. The Bonnies tried early and often to get the ball to Chad Venning in the low post. However, their all-conference forward played selfishly en route to a season-low nine points and a game-high-tying four turnovers.
Far too often, Venning refused to pass out of double teams. His insistence on fighting through two or three defenders crowded under the basket killed any potential for catch-and-shoot-three opportunities. It’s a trend Bona’s opponents have increasingly picked up on.
And then there’s the lineup change that, through three games, has imploded in Schmidt’s hands.
Before being inserted into the starting lineup, guard Moses Flowers had been averaging 10.4 points per game on 46% shooting. He single-handedly kept Bona’s bench scoring respectable, being responsible for half of the unit’s points per game.
Since being inserted into the starting lineup, Flowers is 2-15 from the field. He’s been held without a field goal in two of his three games as a starter.
Flowers earned his opportunity to start in part because usual-starter Daryl Banks III had struggled to shoot the ball efficiently all season. Flowers was playing good; Banks was playing bad. Now both are just playing bad.
By the start of conference play, most coaches have finished experimenting with lineup changes. Most teams have uncovered some semblance of an identity. This Bona team has deviated from the norm in both respects — unless you count inconsistency as a form of team identity.
By their own coach’s admission, the Bonnies have yet to play a complete 40 minutes of basketball. Sometimes, the offense shows up — as it did in an 89-78 road victory over VCU to open A-10 play. Sometimes, the defense shows up — as it did in holding Duquesne to its lowest point total of the season Tuesday night. But rarely have both shown up together.
Before the season, Schmidt said he expected this team to compete for the A-10 Championship and make the NCAA Tournament. If the A-10 Tournament began today, Bona would be in its pillow fight.
One-third of the way through their conference slate, the Bonnies sit 11th in the A-10 standings. They’re now two games back from double-bye territory, where they were picked to finish comfortably. They’re buried in an improved A-10 that features eight teams in the top 100 by NET Rankings.
If Schmidt’s team expects to reach their lofty preseason expectations, it’ll require them to find something that’s eluded them for nearly three months: consistency.
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
