We're going to do things a little differently with this preview. You've already heard some of my thoughts on St. Joe's before the first game and if you haven't, check it out here.
Did I miss something? Are the Bonnies eliminated from the A10 tournament?
Maybe the Twitter echo chamber, like the Bernie Bro myth, is overmagnifying it, but I'm hearing some Bona's fans essentially saying the season is over.
"We are looking at the 8 seed in Brooklyn." (impossible after Tuesday's games)
"That’s it... I’m no longer going to the A10 after this egg." (lol your loss, best weekend of the year)
"Thursday loss in Brooklyn is imminent." (against a pillow fighter?)
Those are a couple tweets/posts I've seen since the La Salle debacle. I'm not going to name names because I understand, we're processing anger. Hell, I immediately changed my Twitter brand to "Coronavirus Will Cancel A10s" after the game. Clearly, we all don't think properly after losing to a dogshit program like La Salle.
But losses like this have happened before.
And we have been fine.
Remember 2012? You know, the Atlantic 10 Championship season? Right after the historically chaotic 2OT win over St. Joe's, we had one final game before A10s... at La Salle. The Bonnies, led by probably the best Bona player since Bob Lanier, LOST by 10. We know what happened next, three magical wins in Atlantic City.
The 2014 season was about to end in a calamity. The Brown and White lost the final four regular season games, including (guess where?) at La Salle by 8. We plummeted all the way down to the 9 seed, but it all turned around when we lost our Barclays Center virginity. We got rollbacks against those damn Explorers and won fairly comfortably. The next day, Jordan Gathers hits a buzzer-beating 3 to upset #1 seed and #18 overall St. Louis. Sure, we fizzled out after the first 10 minutes against eventual tournament champ St. Joe's, but it was a magical ride.
We lost at La Salle in 2016, but then won the following game at #15 Dayton. We lost to Davidson in the 2018 A10 semifinals and bounced back to beat UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.
Even last season, while it didn't involve a La Salle loss, we got absolutely spanked at Davidson 64-46 a week before A10s. Watching this game felt reminiscent of the Cayman Islands ones where we had no shot from right after the opening tip. You should remember what happened next. After that game, I would have happily taken a chance at a 3-pointer to win the A10 title, even though it didn't go in.
I know the last thing you may want to relive right now is a bunch of Bonnies losses, but I'm making an important point. THIS SEASON IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO OVER.
SBUnfurled on Twitter has broken down all the potential scenarios that could happen. I'm going to make this very simple for you all. If the Bonnies beat St. Joe's and St. Louis, we get the double bye. Tuesday's results confirmed that.
Think back to the beginning of the season, starting 0-3, losses to crappy teams like Ohio and Siena. You were probably deciding whether or not you felt like traveling up to Toronto to see us play Rutgers. At that point, if I told you we would get a double bye if we won our final 2 games, you would have told me to lay off Canada's legal marijuana. This is the shot we all realistically wanted from day one.
I know students are on spring break, but if you're within a reasonable driving distance, get to the game! If you're a boomer or have the behavior resembling one (if you have to ask, you probably are), turn off the CBS primetime lineup and get your ass in the reds! You can watch Blue Bloods or whatever some other time!
We've chronicled some of the intra-Bonaventure feuds over the course of the season. SBUnfurled and I vs. students chanting "you are ugly" during opponents' free throws. Did Tim Kenney really play the guitar during the Richmond game? And of course, the B*ndwag*n Civil War of 2019.
In these tense times approaching A10s, it is time for ALL coalitions of Bonnies fans to band together! Students, young alums living in the past (🙋♂️), older alums, townies, and people who just love the Bonnies, WE NEED YOU.
Whether you post on A10 Talk, the B*ndwag*n, the Bevel, Twitter or Facebook groups, WE NEED YOU.
Whether you drink Genny, Yuengling, EBC, Four Mile, White Claw, Truly, O'Douls or apple juice, WE NEED YOU.
I don't give a shit about the hawk, the Bonaventure spirit will NEVER die! We're not going to let Travis Ford cry to the refs like in the A10 championship last year! THIS ISN'T EVEN OUR FINAL FORM.
I'm going scorched Earth over the next 11 days. Call it Kill Billiken if you want, because we are getting redemption in Brooklyn. I hope you already got your Airbnbs or hotels booked, because the prices will skyrocket when NYC knows BONA NATION is coming en masse.
We are not done, Bonnies fans. It all starts against St. Joe's.