You would have presumed, back in October, that a Virginia-St. Bonaventure matchup in the third week of March would come in the NCAA Tournament, not the NIT.
Virginia (21-13) and the Bonnies (22-9) were both ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 – St. Bonaventure at 23, UVA at 25.
The ‘Hoos didn’t make it long in the rankings, dropping their opener at home to Navy.
The Bonnies got out to an 8-1 start that included a double-digit win over Marquette, before a pair of losses to UConn and Virginia Tech, the latter an 86-49 beatdown, changed the narrative a bit on their outlook.
They finished a respectable 12-5 in the tough A-10, which sent Davidson and Richmond to the NCAA Tournament, and VCU, Dayton and Saint Louis to the NIT.
A 57-56 loss to Saint Louis in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals added St. Bonaventure to the NIT list.
Wins at Colorado and Oklahoma has us where we are now – looking at a date with Virginia where the winner gets a trip to NYC for the NIT semis.
Rotation
Coach Mark Schmidt (267-194 in 15 seasons at St. Bonaventure, 349-284 overall) goes with a short rotation.
How short? The Bonnies rank 358th, dead last, in D1 in bench minutes, per KenPom.com.
The iron man five, all seniors, all averages double-digits in scoring, not surprisingly, as a result, led by 6’5” power forward Jalen Adaway (15.9 ppg, 6.1 rebs/g, 48.2% FG, 39.2% 3FG).
6’4” shooting guard Jaren Holmes (13.5 ppg, 5.0 rebs/g, 3.7 assists/g, 39.2% FG, 27.6% 3FG) and 6’3” point guard Kyle Lofton (12.8 ppg, 5.7 assists/g, 40.6% FG, 29.5% 3FG) are the backcourt. The lone backup getting minutes has been 6’3” freshman Qadry Adams (2.1 ppg, 8.8 minutes/g), but we’re not talking about a lot of minutes – he didn’t play at Oklahoma, got four minutes at Colorado, two in the loss to Saint Louis in the A-10 Tournament.
The other starters in the frontcourt are 6’5” small forward Dominick Welch (12.0 ppg, 5.8 rebs/g, 41.4% FG, 36.3% 3FG) and 6’10” center Osun Osunniyi (11.2 ppg, 7.7 rebs/g, 2.9 blocks/g, 60.8% FG).
The bench guy in the frontcourt is 6’9” sophomore Abdoul Karim Coulibaly (3.6 ppg, 9.5 minutes/g), who you will actually see for a few minutes – he got six at Oklahoma, nine at Colorado, eight against Saint Louis.
The offense
A lot of spot-ups (21.6 percent of possessions), pick-and-roll (17.7 percent) and post play (16.8 percent).
Not a great three-point shooting team – 33.2 percent on the season.
In the P&R, Lofton gets the bulk of the usages as the ball-handler (155 possessions), and scores .735 points per possession, turning the ball over on 20.6 percent of those usages.
Need to watch out for Osunniyi on lane cuts (78.1% FG), the back end of P&Rs (69.4%) and stickbacks (67.9% FG), not so much on post-ups (36.8%).
The Bonnies will run some screening action (8.8 percent of possessions), and shoot 41.9 percent as a team (with an adjusted shooting percentage of 53.9 percent) off screens.
The defense
St. Bonaventure ranks 98th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency (.984 PPP). Holmes is the weak link: according to Synergy Sports, opponents shoot 42.3 percent, with an adjusted field goal percentage of 54.6 percent, and score .966 points per possession against him.
He’s out there for 37.9 minutes a game, and he’ll have to guard somebody.
Osunniyi averages 2.9 blocks per game, and ranks as “good,” per Synergy (.819 PPP, 38.6% FG, 43.4% AFG). For a shot blocker, he isn’t foul-prone (2.1 fouls per game).
However long he’s on the bench, Coulibaly is a liability (1.068 PPP, 50% FG, 61.4% AFG).
Story by Chris Graham
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