#59 R.P.I. St.Bonaventure vs. #111 R.P.I. Virginia Tech: 

Virginia Tech men’s basketball returns to the court after another mercurial (lack of) efforting over in Dayton, Oh.

The Hokies are good, yet up-n-down like a Smoothers Brother’s yo-yo routine this hardwood campaign thus far. As said, a pretty good team that’s a bad one to figure. Now they draw the Bonnies of St.Bonaventure in the made for streaming/telly: Hall of Fame Shootout. St.Bonaventure is a very on-trend 8 up against only 2 down. Or the squadron who sports the loftier record here. As these Bonnies are no gimmie lay-up drill T.G.I.F. afternoon down in PhotoHokie’ville or at the: Spectrum Center, of Charlotte, North Carolina. Nevertheless, what you wanna know is… who is gonna win and by how much, rights? So, read on, to find; out!

St.Bonaventure Head Coach: Mark Schmidt: Age=58, 332–275 (.545) overall, and 250–185 (.573) @St.Bonnie. Has a rep’ for: defense, X’s & O’s gameday wiz’ and basketball-geology or… diamonds in the rough.
$831,984.oo

Baller Schmidty played and graduated from Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts in 1981, and is inducted in the Bishop Feehan Hall of Fame. He is still the school’s second all-time leading scorer with a total of 1,450 points. Collegiately he ran ball for the Boston College Eagles from 1981 to 1985 under coaches Tom Davis and Gary Williams.

Whistling wise… Coach Schmidt is the current men’s basketball head coach at St. Bonaventure University. He took the job at the start of the 2oo7–o8 season after holding the same position at Robert Morris University for six seasons (2oo1–2oo7), compiling a record of 82–9o. Prior to becoming the head coach at Robert Morris, he served as an assistant coach at Xavier University under Skip Prosser from 1994 to 2oo1. During the 2oo8–o9 season, he led St. Bonaventure to a 15–15 record, and an appearance in the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament, the school’s first since 2oo5. Schmidt has led the Bonnies to the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championships in 2012 and 2o21 in addition to the Atlantic 10 regular season championships in 2o16 and 2021. In 2o16, he was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. He is the all-time wins leader in St. Bonaventure history passing Larry Weise (2o2 wins) on February 17, 2o19. Schmidt has coached 24 players who went on to play professionally including Andrew Nicholson and Jaylen Adams.

Excluding intra-league Conference Torney’s, Schmidt is a conspicuous .2oo coach in the post-season, Coach Schmidt has hammer locked 3 different A-10 championship rings: (2o12, 2o16, and last years in: 2o21)! He has also notched 2x Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (2016, 2021) Awards in his coaching belt. Also, he was a High School football coach when breaking into coaching itself. Kinda a Vincent Thomas Lombardi Jr. in reverse, who coached a lotta hoops (of all the things), recall. He has also been a: health-and-beauty aids salesman along the way to boot.

Poppa Schmidt is a native of North Attleboro, Mass., Schmidt and his wife Anita have three sons: Nick, Derek, and Michael.

Nick was an All-State player at Olean High School in 2o13-14 and he is now an assistant coach at Catholic University after serving two seasons on the Bonnies staff as a graduate assistant.
In March of 2o16, Derek and Michael helped Olean High to the state championship.

St.Bonaventure at a glance:

• 16th best at the charity stripe!!!
• 21st in SWATs!!
• 32nd in Assist:Turnover ratio. (Good handles here.)
• 78th in the defensive backboard.
• 3o6th in Swipes. (Play the man, not the ball).
• S.B.U. enjoys a slew of better than average to kinda good rankings. As only 3 of ’em were really south of average outta the 32 D-1 Team Ranking I track. Meaning… this is a pretty dang good if not a dominant club.
• 2 Injuries listed: (Coach God twice bless!)

Returning Starters=5! That’s 100%.

St.Bonaventure Strengths:

• As you will no doubt read/figure outs… this team PERPs, very well… foreshadowing intended!
• Player retention too! One of the very few myspacebook.org suffers in the land.
• For such… they log a staggering 27-seasons combined (one way or another) across their nonpareil experienced starting-5❗️
• 1st-team all-A-10: One no.o, 6′3″, 185 lb., Senior year Pt.Guard Kyle Lofton is prolly your alpha bonnie bloke here. And the following may just hint at such… as Lofty nominations read: Wooden Award National Player of the Year Watch List – 2o21-22, the Cousy Award Point Guard of the Year Watch List – 2o21-22, and Kyle was also: Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference – 2o19-20; 2o2o-21. So, there is all of dat. There is also his S&C gone Ironman stamina what with leading the nation in minutes played at 38.4 last year now up to 97.5% of all available minutes played thus far this year. WOWzo!!! There is also his 17.4 ppg, on 3.9 rpg with 5.9 apg and 1.6 spg. Which leads the St.Bonnie way in stealing, assisting, and scoring alike. Can you say A-10 M.V.P.? You should… as not many are doing mo’ for LONGER than Mister Loften is here. The shooting metrics of: 40.9% overall, on 90.9% from the FT-Line and 32.3% long prolly speaks to a bit of wear-n-tear or being shopworn in boxing terms itself. A D-1 leading 39.o mpg (minutes/game) will do that to the best of you. This is all the mo’ impressive as he frankly did not look his listed metrics upon breaking tape. This after having just helped (Prep School) Putnam Science Academy win the first national prep championship in school history as the team’s point guard! This after having been the third-ranked in the state of Connecticut baller. In spite of kinda fair-to-middling H.S. digits. Nothing that special box-score-wise in scholastic terms. So, doing what he is doing @St.Bonneventure is no doubt something of a recruiting coup. His pre-game ritual is eating Swedish fish; his long-term career interest is in sports medicine and athletic training. So, there is that too. That all fairly struck, his seeming resistance to dents and maybe even dings ended one ankle sprain (QUESTIONABLE, left-ankle, St.Philip bless) three games ago. And the continued presence of his absence would be very insalubrious for St.Bonaventure here. Godspeed @a neat kid; as he had been showcasing next-level typea scoring with a whiff of outburst to his potential overseas caliber O-face this season thus far. (see: pic).
• 2nd-string all-A-1o: Jaren Holmes is a final-year, S/G, at: 6′4″, 21o lbs. And he is one other thing too… he’s a freakin’: Romulan! No bleep. From: Romulus, Mich., and he only went to: Romulus High School. With no word yet from the pasties over on Remus. F-bomb guarding this guy… he may just pointy-ear your azz. That attempt at Sci-Fi satire aside, and although I seriously would rather backcourt check someone, anyone; else. JIC he is terrestrial… 17.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 4.9 apg, and 1.1 spg may not be all-Galaxy, tho’ they could be all-A-10. As that’s a tied for the leading scorer and a second leading rebounder on a pretty solid hoops team. The: Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll honoree look is a sharp one. +1 St.Bon.edu point awarded here. The 43% from the floor and 37% from 3-point-land are serviceable enough. This sherlock will dunk on you, he has had a few shooting-shoulder (right, St.Christopher help) dings and he has pocketed a few post-season awards/trophies. So, you know his gearshift has a, clutch. He is also by way of: Ranger C.C. where he led his community college to a national championship game birth. His bro’, William, was drafted as a pitcher by the Los Angeles Angels with the 151st pick in the 2018 MLB Draft. That counts… and count on Jaren to fact-check. As he is a multi-time nationally published author for:  PolitiFact and co-authored two articles for the nationally known fact-checking organization. Never ever bio’ read that one before… so +1 hereby too. As Jaren’s backboarding prolly does allure him to foreign hoops pass-porting indeed. As this is a developing/maturing baller— and plus another one for the Larry Fishburne boyz in the hood looks.

  

• 6′5″, 215 lb., r-Sr. year Jalen Adaway is a lead-G who also will dunk on you. High flying cuff-dunker here. Kinda has a little John Starks swagg to him for it to boot. A third-best 14.6 ppg married to a first-best 7.8 rpg is no bad work from your third offensive option if you can get it. As this Jalen also gets you a dime, a swipe, a swat and he get all of that for you on a blue-ribbon and downright useful 45% behind the arc. Did I mention the near 8 rpg yets? This from a: Miami (OH) transfer-G who has now more than doubled his Ohio-based output. That’s improvement and that’s winning only comes before working according to Coach Webster. Did I mention the dunking yets? As Adaway only competed in the 2o17 American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk Championship at the Final Four! Which makes you wonder if anyone might just give his springs and rebounding an exported next-level sniff?
• 3rd-string all-A-10: Dominick Welch is a: 6′5″, 2o5 lb. off-G with a strange release, and he does wear/hide a silver-Cross under his threads. +many for dat. ‘nick finds his way to: 11.2 ppg, on 5.7 rpg, with 2.0 apg, and 1.3 spg and 1.0 bpg. More of a defender or glue-guy; who also hits an okay enough 34% from downtown. This is from a real live scholastic outburst scorer (before Prep School himself), up in: Cheektowaga, Ny. Where he only got you 32 ppg. A H.S. grider (football) as well, and he makes movies and raps. Prolly is a fun locker room guy to have around chemistry set-wise.  Third place New York Mr. Basketball award prolly hinted at collegiate more. Tho Dom’ does lead St.Bonnie in FT’s at 92%.
• 1st-string all-A-1o: 6′10″, 22o lb., senior season P/F Osun Osunniyi is the one BIG in the St.Bonnie 4-Guard look. He looks you up for: 10.2 ppg with 7.0 rpg on a team-leading 3.o bpg! This with a likewise team pacing 63% overall. Only the 50% FTAs is a snag here. As he was only the: Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year – 2o20-21!!! That does not suck, tho’ O2 looks a little spindly upon film to me, as it does look like he could suck down a protein shake or three. Has won several defensive awards in the last several seasons, his Jurassic Park-looking 7′8″ looking pterodactyl wingspan might be a hint. And he too helped Putnam Science Academy win the school’s first national prep championship. So, there is that and there is the fact that he only played 2-seasons of H.S. ball. (After he grewth zoomed 8″ in height as a pre-Prom Jr.!) Osun was also tabbed Lindy’s Top A-10 Rebounder as well.

St.Bonaventure Weaknesses:

• Anouar Mellouk: is a rookie yearer with NO stats so far. He is a 6′8″, 2oo lb., SPRINGY Euro-F by way of: Amsterdam, NLD. Who is self-glossed as: The Human Highlight reel! Seriously, Dom.Wilkens part Deux? He can touch the top of the backboard. So there is that… and here is his freakshow open-court-orgy linked for your viewing convenience. “Jawohl”, he’s a keeper athlete to be twice-sure. Fork Union escapee of sorts… where he got you nearly 16 ppg on nearly 9 rpg right at 60% overall. This freak is a keeper, as this is only his 5th year of hoopology! And frankly, tho’ totally vertical, he looks a little ungainly on tape. Meaning… there is bðku headroom to grow into here. Tho he is listed as: “IDLE”. Or undisclosed in any other parlance. So, Coach God help on dat.
• Depth, fatigue, and/or foul trouble could all be bugbears here.
• Whispers say BIG names are knocking on Coach Schmidt’s office door to boot.

Bonnies Bench: (depth=2’ish, sometimes 3; tho’ ALL starters go 34 minutes+!)

Abdoul Karim Coulibaly is an interesting looking: 6′9″, 238 lb., relief-Four in his second season by way of: Bamako, Mali. A natural Koufax (or, lefty) which gives him that William Russell defensive or shot-blocking edge. A.K.C. represented his home nation at the 2o19 FIBA U-19 World Cup in Greece, helping guide Mali to the championship game after averaging 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 steals per contest during the tournament. He also cut down the dark-continental nets with a FIBA U-18 African Championship in 2o18. Which is one mo’ African Title than you or I combined. I dig that. Additionally led his Scottland, Pa, Prep School to a #1 ranking a couple of years back at 16 ppg and 12 rpg. So, there may be some D-1 developmental upside here at 57% overall; tho’ 58% free-throwing speaks to his rawness overall as well.

6′5″, 21o lb., r-Soph., Linton Brown is a substitute teaching Floridian S/G. He plays more for his defense than anything else. 2.8 ppg with 1.7 rpg on 17% dialing long-distance. Prior to St.Bonnie, Linton teed one up at: Indian River State. Where he only earned junior college First Team All-American honors following the 2o20-21 season after averaging over 18 points per game while shooting over 51 percent from the floor and better than 48 percent from beyond the 3-point line! So, clearly way more is expected here. Time=tell on if his O-game will perk back up. Tho’ his history is an attractive one, as he had a number of 30+ point games at Indian River St.

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of Bonne's who could bonnet @Tech=4 maybe even 5.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is...

…this is sure a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness hard to predict this V.Poly.I men’s hoops club of late.

As a backup G just went Frequent Flyer right on Ohio by us last time out.

---

Now, we merely draw the team that all of my preseason mags have labeled A-10 numeral uno back in September!

That’s the news news.

The only (maybe) good news is that we may not be tapping them at full strength; as you have already read above.

And frankly after getting O&M Jet Blue discount flown?
We need any lofty advantage we can gets.

 ***

Our handy-dandy friend the so-called Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is calling for a

The annualized year-to-date vitals say that… St.Bonnie is up +1% in shooting percentage margin (being nearly equalized on O & D with VT alike); with VeeTee us sporty looking +12% in 3-point percentage margin (more on D tho’ up on O 5% as well), and St.Bonnie us up +1 in rebounding margin as Windex Wipes go year-to-date. (Both are positive, S.B.U. is just a bit mo’ P.A.T.T.).

The most recent 5-game metrics say that… the Bonnies are now up +5% in shooting percentage margin (mostly on O, a little better on D too tho’); the Hokies are now up only +1% in 3-point percentage margin (slightly better on D), and yet the Bonnies are now up +5 caroms of Fiberglass in rebounding margin in the last fortnight of play.

Armchair Pt.Guard’s:

PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE: Each team has relied heavily on their seniors this year. Keve Aluma, Justyn Mutts, and Storm Murphy have combined to score 45 percent of Virginia Tech’s points this season and 48 percent of the team’s points over its last five games. For Saint Bonaventure, Jaren Holmes, Jalen Adaway, Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, and Dominick Welch have combined to account for 87 percent of all Saint Bonaventure scoring, including 98 percent of the team’s points over its last five games. wowzo!

BLOCK PARTY: Virginia Tech is 6-o when it blocks at least three opposing shots and 1-4 when it falls shy of that mark. Saint Bonaventure is 8-o when blocking four or more shots and o-2 this year, otherwise.

LENGTH MATTERS: Virginia Tech has made 8.6 3-pointers per game as a collective unit this year, which is second-best among ACC teams.

WHISPERS: say… Coach Mike is not happy with our recent Turnovers and/or bad shots. Which has led to too many opposing run-out hoops.

The Bonnies are up +1 in R&R in the last couple of weeks.
S.B.U. is up a lucrative +8% at the charity stripe for the year!
VeeTee is a .000 (o-2) as a Neutral; whereas S.B.U. is .75o (3-1) as a Swiss.

The Call...

No.76 Net Ranking St.Bonaventure vs. no.35 Net Ranking Virginia Tech:

So, oo’s report that Lofton did return to practice on Monday— after suffering a high-ankle-sprain a few weeks ago.

That moves him a shade past QUESTIONABLE to me.
Tho’ their people said it is: “unclear” if he will suit up.

Could still be a game or even two away at this point in his recovery. (St.Philip bless some mo’).

–oOo–

As one could venture to say that sans Lofton?
Vah.Tech has a fair to middling shot to jump a lame-looking St.Bonnie team.

If, however, Lofton is back and is reasonably gamey?
We could be in for a rather, adventurous day.

Or in other words… you really wanna make an OPT run at this one?
Wait. Wait until 4:01 PM and get the Lofty or letdown, news.

As this is about as Veteran and stability drove of a hoops team as we will see all year.
Honestly, Eye’d have to favor them at full strength. As they are prolly NC2A bound this spring.

And we need to regulate on our post-season planning soon enuff.
As a possible repeat, A-10 Champ’ scalp would not be a bad out-of-conference scalp to take.

(55% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=66, St.Bonaventure=63

please support the VT F.C.A.!

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**