For Bonnies, it's defense and rebounds
For Bonnies, it's defense and rebounds
It was one of the first things he?d talked about in nearly every preseason interview.
?If we?re going to have any chance of being better than last season,? Bona coach Mark Schmidt had said ? at Atlantic 10 media day, at Big 4 media day, behind the desk in his office ? ?we need to be much better defensively and on the boards.?
The interesting thing is that, to most followers of the program, an improved ?D? was only a peripheral concern about St. Bonaventure?s men?s basketball team entering the 2013-14 campaign.
Most of the buzz centered on how the Bonnies would replace their three seniors from last season ... who on this team would step up in the scoring department.
But clearly, when looking at the dropoff between their Atlantic 10 championship season and last year ? Andrew Nicholson notwithstanding ? defense and rebounding were at the root of the problem.
Simply put, in 2011-12, Schmidt?s team did both of those things, and did them well. Last year, it didn?t.
Bona finished the 2012-13 campaign ranked 14th (of 16 Atlantic 10 teams) in scoring defense (72 points) and field goal percentage defense (.449) and 11th in rebounding margin (-1.1). That was a big part of why, at one point, it lost six games in a row, and why it finished 13th and missed the conference tournament.
Schmidt knew that in order to again compete with the top half of the league, his squad would have to improve markedly in those areas.
And so far, it has.
Two-thirds of the way through the regular season, the Bonnies aren?t the stifling team they were Nicholson?s senior year. Just four nights ago, they demonstrated how susceptible they can still be, allowing Duquesne to shoot 55 percent, including 11-of-19 from 3-point range, in an 83-81 loss.
Their progress in both areas, though, is apparent.
With 10 regular season games remaining, Bona ranks sixth (of 13 teams) in the league in scoring ?D? (68.4), sixth in field goal percentage defense (.429) and fifth in rebounding margin (plus-4.0), and that?s with Saturday night?s dreadful numbers factored in.
To add perspective: last season, it held four opponents to 60 points or fewer; this year, that number is already at five with another month remaining.
Plus, last year?s team never had a defensive performance like the one the Bonnies did last Wednesday, when they held an explosive La Salle team to just 30 percent shooting and 51 points in a 15-point triumph.
?You gotta defend,? Schmidt said recently, ?and we?ve made that a point of emphasis. In the (first two) games we lost on the road and George Washington at home, we played really well in the first half defensively ... the second half we didn?t.
?It?s been something that we?ve really harped on. (That) was the best defensive game we?ve played all year last week. And it shows what we?re capable of when we defend that way.?
Bona returned its best perimeter defenders in Charlon Kloof and Jordan Gathers. It added some much-needed size and increased its length as a whole.
Youssou Ndoye, while struggling at times offensively, has done a good job of protecting the rim in his junior season.
And those are all contributing factors as to why Bona is a better defensive and rebounding bunch this year.
The biggest reason, however, may just be an adjustment in attitude.
?This year, we?ve got some different guys and I think they understand that we can?t outscore teams,? Schmidt said. ?If we?re going to win, we?re going to win playing defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball.?
In almost of an indictment of last season?s team, he added: ?Last year we thought we could outscore people.
?It?s a different mindset. It?s more of an emphasis and I learned a long time ago it?s not what you teach, it?s what you emphasize. And it?s something we?ve emphasized a lot this year.
?
defense hasn?t necessarily been the hallmark of this particular team. To this point, it might even be tagged as more of an offensive group as it ranks sixth and fifth in the A-10 in scoring offense and field goal percentage.
But it?s not the ?Ol? unit it was in 2012-13, and that?s one of the reasons Bona is having more success than most people initially predicted.
The numbers may be a bit predictable, but hard to ignore: when the Bonnies have held an opponent to less than 45 percent from the field, they?re 9-3. When they?ve outrebounded an opponent, they?re 10-2.
Schmidt?s team is a glittering 8-1 at home this season, and it?s probably no coincidence that it?s played some of its best defense in those contests: overall, it?s held six of those nine opponents to under 65 points AND 40 percent shooting.
The point is, the offense, for the most part has been there for Bona. And when it defends, it gives itself a chance to be truly good, as it was against the Explorers.
They?ll get another chance to be that team tonight against nationally-ranked UMass.
