It?s opening night for Bonnies against Cleveland State

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Mark Schmidt knew when the athletic department struck the deal on this game last spring that his team would have its hands full.

But that was the point.

After spending the past two seasons rebuilding the St. Bonaventure men?s basketball team, Schmidt wanted a non-conference schedule fit for a program on the rise. It was the next step in legitimizing a program that might finally be ready to compete with the league?s elite.

Schmidt, set to begin his third year on the Bona sideline with a 23-37 record, got his wish.

St. Bonaventure will open arguably its most difficult non-league schedule in years when it hosts Horizon League power Cleveland State tonight (7 o?clock, WPIG-FM, WHDL-AM) in the Reilly Center.

The game marks the earliest start ever to a St. Bonaventure basketball season, and one of the Bonnies? toughest first tests in recent memory. The Vikings have won 47 games the past two seasons, captured the Horizon League championship last year and handled nationally-ranked Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It?s exactly the kind of game Schmidt was looking for and the perfect litmus test for a Bona team overflowing with high expectations.

?IT?S A HUGE challenge,? Schmidt said after Wednesday?s practice. ?They went 26-11 last year. They played Arizona tough. They have a good, solid team and their coach does a heck of a job with them from a defensive standpoint.

?We knew when we took the game that it was going to be a tough game, but as we said, we wanted to improve the schedule and Cleveland State is an improvement.?

And, like Bona, an improving program.

The Vikings are fresh off posting the team?s second-straight 20-win season for the first time since the late 80s. And although they return only two starters from last year?s team - preseason all-conference guard Norris Cole (13 points, 3 rebounds) and junior guard D?Aundray Brown (7 points, 6 rebounds) - they?re tabbed to finish third in the Horizon League this season.

So what do the Bonnies have to do to come out with a victory?

?WE HAVE to take care of the basketball,? Schmidt said. ?They?re going to press us in terns of getting up into us in the halfcourt and making us make plays. We have to defend the big guy inside (6-9, 275-pound Aaron Pogue), we have to stop them from taking us off the dribble and we have to rebound the basketball.

?But we have to take care of the basketball. One of the things we struggled with last year was our assist/turnover ratio and hopefully we can do a better job tonight.?

But while Cleveland State is just the first in a long line of difficult non-conference opponents this season (one that includes Illinois State, St. John?s, Syracuse and Mississippi State), Bona has a little bit of history on its side.

THE BONNIES are 74-14 all-time in season openers and a glittering 40-3 in home openers in the Reilly Center since it opened in 1966. Then, too, Bona has won its last four home openers, the last two by an average of 14 points.

The goal is the same this season: win that first game to create some momentum for the rest of the campaign.

?You always want to win all your games,? Schmidt said. ?Our goal was to be 1-0 when we held our first meeting on the 26th of August. So we?ve been working towards this and putting all of our energies into Cleveland State. We?re not worried about what?s next; it?s the game at hand.

?And if we can win it, yeah, it will give us some momentum. But in order to win it, we have to play well, we have to do those little things and we have to play a good home court.?

There?s some concern about the big forward Pogue.

Last Friday, the Bonnies couldn?t stop a similar player in Mansfield?s Yuseff Carr, who finished the game with 19 points and 15 rebounds. It was good his young forwards got outplayed, Schmidt said, so that they have a motivational factor tonight.

There?s a concern with first-game jitters and executing the game plan on both sides of the ball. But this is the kind of game a good team wants to play. And Schmidt and the Bonnies are ready.

?It?s always exciting. It?s a new year,? he said. ?From a coaching standpoint, this is what we do. This is our life, this is fun.

?You put all your work in all through the summer time and the offseason, and this is when you get rewarded. Hopefully, we can go out and play well.?

 

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Four questions Bonnies facing this campaign



There?s something about the Bonnies playing in the Reilly Center on opening night.

The St. Bonaventure men?s basketball team has won 12 of its last 14 home openers, including four in a row. They?ve blown opponents out and they?ve won in the last minute.

Here are four pressing questions as Bona officially enters the 2009-10 campaign, the third under coach Mark Schmidt, and tries to make it five-straight openers on Bob Lanier Court:

How will Andrew Nicholson respond after his stellar freshman campaign?

This St. Bonaventure team will go as far as Nicholson takes it.

But how far will that be now that he?ll be the focus of opposing defenses night in and night out?

?Last year, no one knew who Andrew Nicholson was,? Schmidt admitted during the preseason. ?Now they?re going to gameplan against him every night. It will be that much more difficult for him. He understands that and hopefully he can improve his game.?

If last Friday?s exhibition is any indication, the 6-9 Nicholson will avoid any kind of sophomore slump, no matter what opposing defenses throw in his way. He finished 10-for-12 from the field and 9-for-10 from the line (where he shot only 60 percent last season) in scoring a game-high 29 points in 26 minutes.

The Mississaugua, Ontario native displayed an air of confidence and assertiveness that was lacking his freshman year. You could see it in the way he called for the ball and how he expected to score every time he touched it.

Nicholson packed on 15 pounds of muscle during the offseason, which should help him against the bigger and more physical Atlantic 10 forwards. There?s a bit of a swagger in his step.

The biggest key for him is staying out of foul trouble. If Nicholson can do that, the Bonnies should have a chance in just about every game they play.

What kind of production will Schmidt get from his backcourt this season?

Nicholson can?t do it all. And neither can guard/forward Jonathan Hall, who looks poised for another solid season. Simply put, the Bona backcourt will have to be more of a factor this season if the Bonnies are going to improve.

It?s not that Schmidt?s team was offensively-challenged last year. It finished sixth in the league in scoring (70.1) and fifth in field goal percentage (45.2). But much of that was a product of the inside game, primarily Nicholson, who led all freshmen nationally at a 60 percent clip.

It was a different story from the perimeter. The Bonnies finished 12th in the conference in 3-point shooting, knocking down just 32 percent. Chris Matthews was Bona?s only capable outside shooter, and even he disappeared on far too many occasions. The Washington State transfer hit 81 3-pointers last season, but shot at just a 33 percent clip. Nobody else had more than 23 treys.

There were too many games last season in which the team?s guards (excluding Hall) failed to make an impact. That can?t be the case this season if the Bonnies are serious about making another leap in the league standings.

Yes, Nicholson and Hall will be the team?s go-to players once again. But this year?s backcourt will have to be much more a factor, if only to keep opposing defenses honest. It?s a guard?s game, especially in college basketball. Every good team, especially at this high a level, has guys who are capable outside shooters.

Matthews, now a senior, will have to be much more consistent this season.

Schmidt will need at least one other guy to step up and prove to be a threat from deep. The leading candidate appears to be Lewis Leonard, who is billed as a pure scorer, but did not attempt a shot in the exhibition game.

What kind of production will Schmidt get from the power forward position?

There are a number of possible outcomes here. The coaching staff would prefer Da?Quan Cook, the only returning forward with experience other than Nicholson, to step up and be the contributor everyone expected him to be.

The 6-9, 225-pound sophomore got off to a good start, grabbing a team-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes in the exhibition. He?s expected to get the starting nod again tonight. At this point the job appears his to lose. But Cook is still a work-in progress, and there?s no guarantee he?s the guy for the long haul.

The coaching staff is high on Brett Roseboro - who signed with Bona at the last minute after asking out of his commitment to Marquette - but the 6-10 forward separated his shoulder during the preseason and might not be ready to contribute right away.

Jake Houseknecht and Marquise Simmons are also possibilities, although neither has ever played in an actual game and might need at least another year of development.

The other scenario is if Bona goes with a small line-up with Hall at the power forward spot. Schmidt said he hasn?t used it in practice much, but that he?d go with it during the season. Expect to see the guard combination of Matthews, Eleby and Michael Davenport in this particular line-up.

Which newcomer will make the biggest impact this season?

Schmidt expects a big contribution from Leonard, who averaged 25 points per game at his California community college. Bona desperately needs another proven scorer and the 6-4 swingman will get every opportunity to prove he?s that guy.

Ogo Adegboye, the cat-quick point guard from London, played a nice exhibition game on Friday, finishing with nine points and only one turnover in 17 minutes. Depending on how much Eleby has improved from last season, Adegboye, who appears to be the polar-opposite attitude-wise from his predecessor Ray Blackburn, could wind up as the starter by the time Atlantic 10 play rolls around.

Roseboro will be a candidate if healthy. The darkhorse could be Demitrius Conger. The 6-6 freshman is raw and inexperienced, but athletic and versatile enough to potentially make an impact right away.

 

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Cleveland State men's basketball starts tonight


Cleveland State basketball begins its season tonight against a veteran St. Bonaventure team out of the Atlantic 10 Conference that finished .500 overall last season.

What CSU head coach Gary Waters calls, a reloading season, coming off its 2009 NCAA Tournament appearance and 26-11 campaign, should offer its fans a few things to look for in non-conference play.

1. Junior guard Norris Cole takes the mantle of team leader and veteran scorer (13.3 ppg) into the game. But during preseason practice and exhibition play, sophomore Trevon Harmon has been sizzling, particularly from behind the 3-point arc. Is that a harbinger of things to come?

2. Sophomore Nigel Ajere, is the perfect mid-major power forward at 6-6, 225 pounds. He has the strength to play inside and the athleticism to play outside. A nifty scorer around the basket. He sat out last season, so Ajere may not be a fast starter. But the better he gets as the season goes on, the better the Vikings get.

3. D'Aundray Brown returns as CSU's 6-4 junior defensive stopper. If he has added a tad more offense (5.7 ppg) to his game, and can stay away from the injury bug, the Vikings can be a serious threat to win any game they play this season.



THE DOTTED LINE: Cleveland State basketball continued to make its mark in the recruiting wars by signing a pair of baseline players in the NCAA early signing period. In 6-8 Devon Long from Detroit and 6-9 Ludovic Ndaye from Montreal the Vikings have stoked themselves with youth at a position pivotal to any consistent mid-major success.

"You always need good post players,'' assistant coach Larry DeSimpelare said recently. "And good post players are the hardest to find.''

The 6-8, 270-pound Long is a power forward who earned first team all-league honors last season after averaging 18 points and 13 rebounds a game. He is currently ranked as the No. 2 center and the No. 9 player in Michigan by Prep Spotlight. Long was named to the All-Tournament team at the Buckeye Prep Invitational in 2008, helping the Detroit All-Stars to a second place finish.

Ndaye, a 6-9, 220-pound power forward from Montreal, has played four games this season at Westwind Prep in Phoenix, AZ, averaging 12.1 point and 6.2 rebounds. A member of the National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) during his junior and senior seasons, he was ranked ninth among power forwards in Canada in 2008-09 by The Thomas Report. Ndaye has represented Canada in international tournaments in France and Germany.

"The addition of Devon and Ludovic have assured that the Cleveland State Basketball program will continue to be successful," head coach Gary Waters said is a statement. "They will both help to provide us with stability on the interior along with rebounding and scoring. More importantly, they continue the progression of building size within the program. I am excited to have these two young men in the Viking Basketball program because they will help us to continue the tradition that we have established." Waters added.

Waters went on to describe Long as, "... a unique combination of power, strength and athleticism to the court. He has the ability to score inside and is an outstanding rebounder."

Ndaye appears to be what coaches now call a 'stretch' power forward because of his outside shooting ability.

Waters said, "Ludovic is a big, strong post player who will fit into our defensive scheme because of his ability to score both inside and on the perimeter, rebound and be a stopper inside.''

Currently CSU has six center/power forwards on its 13-man roster and all have eligibility remaining after this season including 6-7 freshman Tim Kamczyc, 6-11 sophomore Joe Latas, 6-9 sophomore Aaron Pogue, 6-6 sophomore Nigel Ajere, 6-11 junior Kevin Anderson and 6-9 junior Jared Cunningham.