The SCGD returns tonight after a few days off (in part due to a technical glitch on my end that resulted in last night’s SCGD between Drexel and Elon never getting posted). However, tonight we turn to a road game for an undefeated team against a home team that has yet to win on the year. The game is the Atlantic Ten’s St. Bonaventure Bonnies traveling to Albany to take on the Siena Saints (7:00 PM Eastern).
Siena enters tonight’s game without a win on the season. They lost their first game of the season against cross-town rival Albany, then dropped road games at Vermont (a preseason pick to begin among the best teams in the America East) and at La Salle by only four points.They have been led so far by junior forward Rob Poole, who has averaged nearly 20 points per game in their first three contests.
St. Bonaventure, on the other hand, has been one of a handful of A-10 teams that has gotten off to a strong start (in fact only Duquesne has lost more than once so far). The Bonnies are 3-0, with all three wins coming at home and perhaps the best of which was a home victory over another in-state rival, Canisius, by a commanding 86-64 score last time out. Tonight’s game is their first road contest in what is an awfully weak non-conference slate that only sees them leaving the state of New York twice, once for an exempt tournament in which their best possible opponent would be a finals matchup with Louisiana Tech, and once for a trip to Wake Forest. Keep an eye on center Youssou Ndoye for St. Bonaventure. This 7 foot tall junior from Senegal is averaging close to a double-double so far. He has also blocked 6 shots, including 4 against Abilene Christian.
The Bonnies are primed to put together a strong record, but will clearly need to win games in conference play to get any serious at-large consideration. The best news for Mark Schmidt’s team is that they will get plenty of chances to do that in the A-10, which in the early-going at least, appears to be a very solid league.