The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 98 is St. Bonaventure basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of St. Bonaventure basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 3
- NCAA wins: 7
- Bids: 8
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 14.1
- Bids per season: 0.08
- AP Polls: 85
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 4
- NBA players drafted & played: 14
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 8
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on St. Bonaventure basketball
Let’s go to the great town of Olean, New York, as the Bonnies come in at No. 98!
St. Bonaventure is a basketball school, largely because of their history, despite being a very small Catholic college. The Bonnies were a regular in the NIT back in the day, making the semifinals there in 1952, 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1971. They won it all in 1977 and went back to the semis in 2022. In fact, with 16 NIT appearances and a 17-17 record in it, they are one of the most accomplished programs when it comes to the distinguised tournament.
But that isn’t why St. Bonaventure basketball cracked the top 100. Instead, it was the 1070 season, as future Hall of Famer Bob Lanier led them to a 25-3 record and a spot in the Final Four. Lanier wouldn’t play in the national semis against Jacksonville, who had their own big man in Artis Gilmore, unfortunately ending a championship run two wins short. But it was a magical run for a school like St. Bona, even back in the day.
But that 1969-70 season wasn’t a one-hit wonder. The Bonnies had previously made the 1961 Sweet 16 thanks to another Consensus All-American in Tom Stith leading the way. In fact, as a side note, both Stith and Lanier were 2x Consensus AA’s, winning all four honors between 1960 and 1970.
People also forget the 1967-68 season, when Lanier, as a sophomore, took St. Bona to the Sweet 16. He never did win them a title, but they were certainly the glory days for the Bonnies as a program. And before we go further, I should definitely shout out head coaches Edward Donovan and Larry Weise, who had some outstanding records in their time, with Donovan going 139-57, and Weise going 202-90 with Bonaventure.
They’d make the tourney again in 1978 under another solid head coach, Jim Satalin, but wouldn’t go to the big dance again until 2000 under Jim Baron. However, in 2007, the program hired Mark Schmidt, who would make his own kind of history. Schmidt retired last year after 19 seasons with the Bonnies and as their all-time winningest head coach with 341 wins. He took them dancing three times and won a pair of A-10 regular season and tournament titles. In 2018, they finished 26-8, taking down UCLA in the First Four as an at-large bid. And in 2012, future NBA player Andrew Nicholson nearly led them to a huge upset of 3-seed Florida State, losing by just three points.
From the olden days to the current age, St. Bonaventure has put out some great products on the court, and it has led to some great moments in March. Mike MacDonald takes over the program now as they look to continue a storied history, alongside notable GM Adrian Wojnarowski.