So much for Colorado´s whining about the "East Coast bias" in picking the NCAA field.
The comparison of this St Bona to the 2016 GW team could prove pretty accurate.
 

3-1 in the first round - not too shabby!

Free Quebec wrote:

Bonnies were the only team forced to travel any time zones - and they were actually forced to travel two time zones west to play at 11PM their time on very short notice on the road at a PAC12 team in altitude in Boulder.

They won anyway by 8. 

I’m not sure why the Bonnies disappointed this year (maybe it just came apart after the Lofton injury or maybe a bit of complacency after preseason top 25), but they are the most talented team in the NIT field bar none. 

If the Bonnies really go for it, they can win the whole thing just like GW after a disappointing season. I’m rooting for them.

Just like GW with the disappointing year that ended with the NIT title,  Bona is the most talented team left in the tourney and now they are in the final 4.


And they did while getting totally shafted by the NIT. 

First, as I mentioned, they had to travel to Colorado for an 11PM EST tip, literally the only team forced to travel out of their time zone. They beat Colorado and then got a tough road game at Oklahoma, and beat them too. 

At that point, the Bonnies thought they’d be hosting UVA because Bona was the 5 seed and UVA the 6 seed.  But the NIT told them piss off and go on the road again. When Bona complained, the NCAA said they don’t actually seed teams 17-32 and UVA was actually seeded ahead of them in their super secret seeds, but that they chose to send UVA to Miss St for travel reasons.  Basically total BS that really means ‘now that it’s you and UVA left, we want UVA in the final 4 so we are making them the home team.   And we do have seeds, we just won’t show them to you and we ignore them when it’s more convenient for us).”

Well, now they’ve won consecutive road games at Colorado, Oklahoma, and UVA, which is something few NCAA tourney teams could do. 

Now they play the winner of Xavier/Vandy (I expect Vandy to win) and I would not bet against the Bonnies the rest of the way.

Really reminds me of GW’s run.

I guess this explains why SBU and UVA failed to have seed numbers next to their names when ESPN showed the brackets.  Because SBU with a 5 seed was not really ahead of UVA with a 6 seed  according to the super secret seeds.  Maybe The Dude is running the NCAA...just say or do what you want, and then don't answer or just move on when questioned.  Incidentally, what should have been the game winning drive by Kyle Lofton, he was fouled and made the two free throws, had as blatant a goaltend ignored as you can imagine (a UVA player not only touched the rim but held onto it for close to a full second).

As for Lofton, it's not every day that you get to see a great player redeem himself.  Only 11 days earlier, the Bonnies were down 1 to SLU in the A10 tournament, with two foul shots awarded to Lofton.  Two makes would result in a likely win.  One would likely mean overtime.  Incredulously, Lofton missed both and the Bonnies were packing for Colorado.  Last night, Lofton again goes to the line, down 1, in the closing seconds.  What should have been an "and 1" due to the missed goaltend turned out to be meaningless as Lofton calmly sank both free throws.  Couldn't have been happier for that young man who has been one of the really good, underrated players in the game.

Last edited by Gwmayhem (3/23/2022 8:47 am)

Saw on social media yesterday that it was exactly 6 years ago when we dominated San Diego State in the semi's on the way to our teams only national championship. ESPN gave us a mention when talking about the Bonnies and A-10.

At least we have that banner hanging in the rafters to get us through this decade of misery. In the A-10's history, GW and Dayton (2010) are the only teams to have won the NIT. If you go way back into the 50's, Duquesne and LaSalle won it.

Are we the next Duquesne and LaSalle? Decades of poor performance and a revolving door of coaches. Hope not.