The Annual Griff game and BW debate

[ceharv]

Regardless of the debate about whether we should be playing them, we are and it’s this Saturday. I have always contended it is okay to have them on the schedule every year for the variety of reasons I won’t waste time repeating, but I am feeling a little less favorable now.
Regardless of the description applied to the conference a team is in, I believe there is a clear demarcation between teams - you are either a buying team or a bought team, the latter being the prostitutes of D1 - teams that travel for paid one-nighters to get used by the buying level teams. I guess there’s a third level of teams that do neither, which is okay and that’s where the Griffs have always been. On the 4th the Griffs got blasted in Arizona by 9th naked Arizona by 29 - a margin the Arizona fans are probably complaining about and over-analyzing right now on their message board. Of course, I don’t know the financial arrangements of that game, and if the Griffs were truly a bought team, but I don’t believe ‘Zona came to WNY last year and thus this was the return visit of a H and H series, and unless the Griffs are hosting them next year, this has the appearance of them being bought. Maybe it’s elitist, but I don’t think we should be traveling to visit Programs that consider themselves to be in the bought team category.

Having said that, watch the B?,%@tards beat us up there. God I hope not, I’m sick of our occasional lapses in losing to them.

[artvandalay]

I'm glad St Bonaventure is playing Canisius, hope the Bonnies beat them by 40!

[skeller6]

I absolutely love Little Three action.........could care less about soul-less UB...

Playing Niagara and Canisius is always special.........these local MAAC teams are our rich, traditional rivals who we have played for over one hundred years...

This series is what college athletics is all about.....Go Bonas Beat Canisius !!

[bigcat]

The Bonnies have lost 3 of the last 4 to the Griffs. No wins at Canisius since 2017. Sure, playing in their high school gym is pathetic, but this rivalry is one of the embarrassing marks on Schmidt’s resume. We have lost twice to them in the RC.

This is a game/series that our players have had problems performing at their best the last 5 seasons … while the Griffs over-perform.

Bonnies vs Griffins
2014, home, win 79-73
2015: away, win 77-73
2016: home, LOSS 106-101, OT
2017: away, win, 73-65
2018: home, win 80-65
2019: away, LOSS 61-57
2020: no game
2021: home, win 69-60
2022: away, LOSS 84-80, OT
2023: home, LOSS 70-63

I thought the Griffs had a decent squad last season yet they finished 14-18 overall and 8-12 in the MAAC. Canisius has not had a winning season since 2017-18.

Makes no sense to end this rivalry when it has been fairly even over the last decade. Let’s get our guys focused and beat the Griffs soundly in front of our passionate Buffalo alums.

If/when we start dominating this rivalry again, maybe we can refuse to play in their band box. Do we want to act like the arrogant ‘Cuse nation by refusing to (first) come to Bonas, and (secondly) end the rivalry completely?

I’d like to see a gutty, clean, professional performance from the Bonnies this Saturday. Take care of business and leave no doubt.

[BONA82.5]

Agreed. This is a perfect team for us to play at this point in the season - especially with our new squad still developing chemistry and figuring out their roles. I guarantee that COACH is fully aware of his disappointing record vs Canisius. Something tells me he will have the team ready and fired up to hammer the GRIFFs.

[thesocalkid]

IT'S A WONDERFUL MORNING HERE IN THE NATURE COAST !! ( it smells like freedom )

Just beat Canisius - the new guys need it learn our rivalry - fight, fight, fight


And also, this is off the FGCU site. Looks like they are giving away FREE towels for a White opening game.

fgcuathletics.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventInfo?ticketCode=GS:ATHLETICS:B24:MB1113:&linkID=fgcu-athletics&dataAccId=748&locale=en_US&siteId=ev_fgcu-athletics

[kccgold]

Haven’t won in that gymnasium in 7 years

[towniegrad]

Think the little three should remain on the schedule..playing regional opponents including ub ,Syracuse Cornell, Colgate is good for all teams involved and for nys…let’s see if they can beat the griffs this time.

[Chuck]

I should not say the following and I know we’ve heard this before, but Canisius game should be an obvious win. Canisius appears to be horrible this year.
New Canisius head coach Jim Christian has just 1 player returning from last year with 6th man Cam Palesse 6’5” averaging 6.8 ppg. Canisius might have the lowest quality of transfers I’ve ever seen for a D1 team.

D1 transfers
— Paul McMillan 6’2” (Central Michigan) 5th leading scorer at 8.3 ppg. Poor shooter from both the field (36.9%) and 3s (25.5%).
— Tana Kopa 6’6” (LIU) 3rd leading scorer at 12.0 ppg. By far led his team with 6.4 three pointers attempted per game, but shot just 33.3% from threes (5th on the team). By the way Chance Moore even attempts more 3 pointers with 8.6 and 7.2 the last 2 years.
— Jasman Sangha 6’8” (CSUN) 6th leading scorer at 6.4 ppg. Solid shooter from field 56.8% which led his team. Ironic with Bonnies just finished playing CSUN.
JUCO
— Dylan Godfrey 6’8” (East Los Angeles) 3rd leading scorer at 11.2 ppg. Shot 38.7% from 3s.

Players listed above are the only players to have more than 3 points in Canisius blowout loss to Arizona. Three players scored double digit points against Arizona with McMillan (20 points) Godfrey (13) and Kopa (11).

McMillan is the only quality D1 player on Canisius team. Has impressive credentials.
— Named 2022 Ohio’s Gatorade player of the year. Averaged 31.3 ppg.
— Rivals 126th ranked recruit. Strangely he signed with NJIT (must have been a lowly recruited player).
— Considering his high ranking McMillan overall has been a disappointing player in college (NJIT and Central Michigan).

Bonnies should win this game (it would be a a really bad sign if Bona loses this game).
— On MAAC Media Day, Canisius was picked 2nd to last and the MAAC is among the worse conferences in D1 with a 24th NET ranking last season.
— One returning player and he was the 6th man last season averaging 6.8 ppg. Scored 7 against Arizona.
— With McMillan, Canisius has just one quality D1 player. Next highest scorer in Arizona game (Godfrey) was the 3rd leading scorer on his JUCO team. The other double digit scorer (11 points) averaged 12 points for a horrible LIU team (7-22 record) and 348 NET.

www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/canisius/men/2025.html
gogriffs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

[Cassian]

I sent Christian a D1 prospect from Florida who I believe has great upside and was summarily dismissed with a “we have our guys, we”re good”response - so we shall see.

I talked to Mark about this kid too but everyone thinks transfers are the better route (at least for now) and I heartily disagree, we’ve been successful finding under the radar kids like the one I recommended with tremendous upside and we should always make an effort to keep finding these kids

[ceharv]

Chuck - I share your concern about thinking that way. Seems like every year we go into the Canisius game with the Griffs being thought of as a solid W, only to see them somehow raise their game and either give us a fight to the end or outright beat us, so I will remain nervous about what will be these guy’s first trip away from the RC (which is another reason for worry). I hope my worries prove unfounded and we come away with a solid roadie.

[bona20]

Nov 6, 2024 13:26:24 GMT -5 Cassian said:

I sent Christian a D1 prospect from Florida who I believe has great upside and was summarily dismissed with a “we have our guys, we”re good”response - so we shall see.

I talked to Mark about this kid too but everyone thinks transfers are the better route (at least for now) and I heartily disagree, we’ve been successful finding under the radar kids like the one I recommended with tremendous upside and we should always make an effort to keep finding these kids

Is this kid an actual D1 prospect or a “D1 prospect”? I’m sure Schmidt loves Bona Bandwagon input on recruits.

[atlbonnie87]

To be honest, I sympathize with the thought process of not playing this game — but I also know how difficult it is to get opponents to the RC. We can afford to play this one. It adds a little to our non-conference vs. random opponents. I don’t feel that way about Siena. And certainly to a lesser extent for Niagara and UB. All that being said, these games aren’t going anywhere guys. Especially nowadays with how hard it is to get P4 games.

Anyhow, we can’t afford to lose this one. And for a team like our current group that is a work in progress, this is about as forgiving of a first road game that you can ask for.

[Cassian]

Bona20 - all county (Tampa), 23 pp per game, 6’4”, with speed who can attack the basket, like you i’ve been watching hoops all my life and the kid is the real deal, now in prep school in Albany

[marylandbonnie1]

I used to feel the same way when it came to playing Canisius and Niagara. I only wanted to play them at home, never at their barn. However, this is a different time. Because of the transfer portal, you never know what kind of team we are going to have from year to year.

Either we go with the old Temple model and play almost all buy games, both home and away or we maintain the local rivalries to ensure some sort of continuity from year to year. I know why we play Siena but as far as I am concerned, that one can go away.