Fifteen years ago, many people around the Atlantic 10 wanted to boot St. Bonaventure out of the conference following an embarrassing scandal that crippled the program.
Now the Bonnies are helping to carry the league as coach Mark Schmidt has put together one of the best building jobs in the history of men’s college basketball.
Following the 2002-03 season, St. Bonaventure was all but dead. A messy academic scandal turned the scrappy-little-engine-that-could program into a punch line.
The NCAA retroactively erased the entire 2002-03 season and banned the Bonnies from the 2004 postseason.
The coaching staff, most of the athletic department’s inner circle and key members of the university administration were fired or resigned, leaving the program in a crater that seemed like it might be impossible to emerge from.
Around the Atlantic 10, people wondered whether the league should cut ties with SBU. Being good at St. Bonaventure is hard under the best of conditions. It was fair to wonder if it would ever recover in the shadow of the scandal. Those fears were only magnified from 2003-04 to 2006-07 as the Bonnies averaged 22 losses a year under Anthony Solomon.
Schmidt had a below .500 record at Robert Morris (82-90) when he accepted the job, but candidates weren’t lining up for a job many thought to be a career killer.
It wasn’t just the scandal that made winning at St. Bonaventure hard.
Olean is 73 miles of windy, hilly, lake effect snow-covered roads away from Buffalo, nestled in southwestern New York, not far from the Pennsylvania border. There’s nothing noteworthy closer in any direction.
On Saturday and on most Saturdays during basketball season it’s cold. Really cold. But against UMass, the Reilly Center was nearly full despite no students and some harrowing road conditions surrounding the city.
The Mark Schmidt miracle is rolling. He’s welded together a collection of hungry transfers, overlooked players and a handful of Canadians. He’s had winning seasons in six of the last seven years. He took the Bonnies to one NCAA tournament (2012) and was robbed or a bid in 2016.
The Bonnies (11-2) are currently the co-favorite (with Rhode Island) in the conference and if they are anywhere near the top of the league, Schmidt should be coach of the year and could be a popular candidate for open jobs after the season.
MY TOP 10 — 1. Michigan State, 2. Arizona State, 3. Duke, 4. Xavier, 5. Villanova, 6. West Virginia, 7. Oklahoma, 8. Virginia, 9. Wichita State, 10. Texas A&M.
GAMES OF THE WEEK: Saturday looks like a good day to put new batteries in the remote control and park in front of the television.
No. 7 Oklahoma at No. 6 West Virginia, Saturday, 7:15 ESPN2 — Any game involving Sooner freshman Trae Young is worth setting the DVR for. He’s the sport’s most fun player in decades. Heading into to Tuesday’s action he was leading the nation in scoring (29.6 ppg) and assists (10.7). Both are absurd numbers for anyone in a power conference let alone a rookie.
West Virginia is always tough on opposing point guards and the game itself will have a considerable impact on the Big 12 standings.
No. 17 Kentucky at No. 23 Tennessee, Saturday, 9 p.m. SECN — The Wildcats came to life last week in their whipping of Louisville. This is a chance to prove it was the start of something.
No. 10 Kansas at No. 16 TCU, Saturday, 9:15 p.m. ESPN2 — The Big 12 is outstanding this year and the Jayhawks won’t have an easy path to another banner.
TCU is among the many teams that could overthrow them.
ATLANTIC 10 GAME OF THE WEEK: St. Bonaventure at Dayton, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. CBSSN — There aren’t many great matchups this week. The Flyers are down, but winning at Dayton is never easy. Getting that win would solidify SBU’s favorite status.
BUZZER BEATER — Is it possible that Boston College is good? Or at least kind of good?
The Eagles have been ACC plankton for so long, it’s hard to picture. But after beating then-No. 1 Duke, they nearly won at Virginia Saturday. Their only losses are to Texas Tech, Providence and Nebraska, and they’ve avoided their toe-stubs against the likes of Hartford, Sacred Heart and UMass-Lowell that have pockmarked their last two seasons.
BC hosts No. 25 Clemson, Wednesday at 7. Winning would push the Eagles in the direction of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage