"This is the rebirth of the RC" - Mark Schmidt

Awesome.

That’s the word that comes to mind to best describe Monday’s home opener vs. Binghamton. Well, a colorful adjective might come before it, but you get the point.

There was far more electricity and energy in the crowd than any other game I’ve witnessed in the past three years. The only game that came close would be the game in which the Bonnies gave George Washington all they wanted two years ago.

Here’s a few thoughts from the game.

-The student section was amazing. Coach Schmidt’s cries for students to be the “sixth man” have resonated loud and clear on campus. It was shoulder to shoulder along the baseline. We need to send a few of the students in the main section to the “end zones” to have more of an impact on the opposition, though. It was loud, raucous and a ton of fun. The announced attendance of 4,196 might have been a little low. I’d say closer to 4,500.

-Call me a Schmidt Head. Schmidt came to the student section following the victory and called for the students to storm the court. The students celebrated with their new coach in what was certainly the best moment in St. Bonaventure basketball since the tournament appearance, if you’re asking me.

-Fereti was absolutely electric. When he’s on, he’s a joy to watch. He’s an interesting player as it’s obvious from the tip whether he’s going to have “it” that night or not --when he doesn’t, its brick city. But when he is on his game, defenders from America East-type opponents might as well just sit back and watch him work, because they’re not going to be able to stop him.

-The Bonnies did a great job of breaking Binghamton’s press. SBU was the stronger, more physical team all the way around. They did exactly what an Atlantic 10 team should do with a second-tier America East opponent- they wore them down and by the second half, the Bonnies were calling all the shots on the offensive side of the ball. Would we have seen this in the Solomon era? I highly doubt it….

-Michael Lee looked like an A-10 All Conference player. He simply out-powered Binghamton on the boards all night long. We’ve seen glimpses of Lee’s potential for the past three seasons. However, for the most part, Lee has yet to be able to find consistency. Is this the year? Can Lee finally be the player as a senior we’ve been hoping he’d be for the past three seasons? I think so. It seems as though he’s finally turned the page to become an elite player in the A-10.

-Coach Schmidt has something in freshmen Hillary Haley and Malcom Eleby. Both made freshmen mistakes, and both need to learn how to finish. But they did some nice things that don’t show up in the box score. They’ve both got the ability to penetrate like the Bonnies have sorely lacked in the backcourt for …well, what seems like forever. Haley is nearly there, Eleby has a bit more of a learning curve. Speaking of some nice work that didn’t show up in the box score, Matt Morgan didn’t score a point. However, he played well on defense and kept himself in good position when he saw action. Much improved from his stiff performance in the exhibition vs. Slippery Rock. Like the Bonnies, all are works in progress.

-The boys in Brown and White must play better defense if they hope to win in conference play. They played aggressive defensively, but had too many breakdowns, allowing the Bearcats way too many open looks from the perimeter.

We’ll keep the negatives for later. For now, let’s bask in this. As the fans stormed the court, I couldn’t help but think of where this program has been the past four years. The program has been through a lot, to put it mildly, and has a long way to go to reach the heights of 2000, but I had to think to myself as the buzzer sounded and the crowd roared that the worst is over. We’re finally getting it back.

-Scott Eddy, BV Online Director