It was my own fault for assuming the bracket was structured like almost every other that had come before it.
For thinking that the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, by simple math, must be seeded fifth in an eight-team region while Virginia had to be No. 6. For presuming that tournament organizers would have to do right by the Bonnies at least ONCE in this inspired postseason venture.
I was wrong on all accounts.
In my preview story for the Bona-Oklahoma second round NIT matchup, I wrote that if the Bonnies won, they’d actually host the quarterfinal if Virginia were to “upset” No. 2 North Texas based on having the better seed. Of course, that’s exactly how each of those games played out on Sunday night.
But just as visions of a home game against a perennial ACC power — with a trip to Madison Square Garden on the line — began dancing in fans’ heads, they were quickly doused with the almost-immediate announcement:
St. Bonaventure at Virginia, Tuesday night, 7 p.m.
Huh?
FANS WERE outraged, spending more time denouncing the NCAA for this latest injustice than on the fact Bona had just beaten another Power 5 foe on its own court, that Jaren Holmes had fought through months-long adversity for perhaps his finest performance of the season, that this group’s playing well enough to win the whole thing. Their team, based on being the supposed No. 5 seed, by just about any measure, deserved to have an Elite 8 home game.
And here they are again, being asked to hit the road.
It’s maddening and unfair, no doubt. But it’s also something that we probably should have seen coming.
The NIT actually only seeded the top four teams in each region, and it did that, in retrospect, for two reasons: 1., to create as many early geographically-friendly matchups as possible, and 2., to put later-round games between two unseeded teams in the most advantageous location (read: whichever spot will make more money).
In the end, Bona was stiffed in both categories.
The Bonnies and their fans, understandably, wanted an explanation.
“I need answers now!!!” senior guard Dominick Welch tweeted Sunday night. “So why we not playing at the crib?!?”
The reply they received was flimsy at best and laughable at worst.
ACCORDING to the NCAA’s Will Hopkins, in a statement to SBU-TV sports, “Seeds 17-32 were not put into the bracket based seed only, but also geography played into account where we could get some bus trips. SBU played a four seed and Virginia played a three seed, but those were not true 4/5 or 3/6 matchups.
“On the committee’s overall seed list of 1-32, Virginia was higher than St. Bonaventure and given the option to host the quarterfinal round game as the higher seed.”
If the Cavaliers were, indeed, the higher seed — and many believe that’s due to UVA having a better NET ranking (No. 83 to Bona’s 85) — fine. But why not say that from the get-go to avoid the uproar it created Sunday night? Why allow an already jaded audience to believe that this is just another instance of an NCAA cash-grab, of kowtowing to the power conferences?
The issue, inherently, is more about transparency than fairness.
This is the kind of thing that reeks of the NCAA “moving the goalposts” for its own good and the betterment of its P5 money-makers. But then, that’s what the NIT, especially, has always been about.
The black-and-white is evident.
In its first-round home game against Mississippi State, Virginia drew 5,278 fans to John Paul Jones Arena (capacity of 14,593). Even if Bona sold out — and it undoubtedly would, given a game of this magnitude — it couldn’t reach that figure (or that potential) on its best day.
And as long as the NCAA has something it can lean on, no matter how bogus, whether it’s by unseeding teams or using any of the myriad available metrics to conclude that Virginia has the higher ranking, it can justify giving the team on the No. 6 line the home game.
But that one injustice isn’t what’s made Bona’s stay in the NIT such a slap in the face.
This ENTIRE tournament has been a slap in the face.
BONA was the only squad in the 32-team field that didn’t get something of a regional first-round matchup. It’s the only team that was made to travel the length it did — 2,700 miles and into different time zones each time — for two road games. It’s the only team of the eight left standing that will not have hosted at least one game.
And why would teams that staged their second round contests on Saturday get to play on Wednesday, but Bona, which played on Sunday night at 8 p.m. in Oklahoma, has to play less than 48 hours later, again giving it just one day full day (which includes travel) to prepare for its opponent?
At this point, Bona can only laugh … and continue to use it as added fuel for this NIT run.
“The NIT didn’t do us any favors,” Schmidt said after Sunday’s triumph. “Going 1,400 miles to Colorado and playing at 5,400-foot altitude. And then us going back to Olean for a couple days and coming back out here. It hasn’t been easy. But we dealt with adversity, we have veteran guys that understand life’s not always fair. But you go to work and you keep on at it and good things will happen, and that’s what happened tonight.”
