FanPost

Bears and Boston: Comparing St. Bonaventure To Boston College

Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

[ED. NOTE - As we often do, we've chosen to spotlight a reader submission on the Front Page of the site. We have lightly edited the article, the headline and the photo from the original.]

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I went to a college hoops game this afternoon, and it made me sad.

Let's start with some background: St. Bonaventure University has

about 1,700 students. It's located in a town of 15,000 people in the forested hills a few hours south of Buffalo, the nearest sign of civilization. That entire region of New York State is depressed and beleaguered, with an extraordinarily high percentage of its people on food stamps. Truly, the rural poor. Bears are more plentiful than job or entertainment opportunities. Wikipedia states that the Bonnies' endowment is $60 million (compared to BC's $2.2 billion), though an administrator has told me that it's significantly less than that. Its basketball team plays in the Reilly Center, a 5400 seat bandbox gym so often found in older Catholic schools. It was built 50 years ago, hasn't really been renovated, and looks its age. The team is coached by Mark Schmidt, a BC player during the Davis/Williams era, and a candidate for the BC job when 'Onahue was fired.

Why did the game today make me sad? Because it was clear that Bonnies could kick our butts in basketball.

They're (15-6, 7-3) tied for 4th in the Atlantic 10. They have a raucous student section, and passionate alumni who drive hours to see every home game. Their assistant coaches beat the bushes - particularly in Canada - to find prospects who are ignored by the ACC, Big East, and Big 10 conference schools. Heck, given the "background" set forth above, it's extremely difficult for Bonnies to recruit against other A-10 members.

But they could kick our butts.

And it underscores the fact that the litany of excuses repeatedly recited on this board are so much crap. The weather, the facilities, the size of the school, being a private Catholic institution, injuries, referees, team youth...none of it matters in the end. Some posters note that other schools like ours do very well ('Nova, Providence...). Few seems to notice that others are actually much worse off, but do much better.

BC's problem is its attitude. We find it easier to make excuses for losing than to do what's necessary to win. We dismiss or rationalize lousy recruiting classes. Critics are scolded for being codgers (NG claims that 85% of the criticism is illegitimate, even when our football and basketball teams are both among the very worst in the nation) until the situation becomes so absurd that there is simply no credible way to defend it. Then the apologists just fade away. (Has anyone else noticed how infrequently the moderators are commenting now?)

We're scamming the system. We take the ACC money without trying. We hire sub-standard MAC directors and coaches, who in turn take the big money and dumb down the schedules in hopes of continuing to take that money.

Should I care? Probably not. BC sports don't impact my faith, my health, my family, my companies, or anything else that really matters. But it's disappointing that we're so lazy.