By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — If I was to take a guess, you’ve heard enough people tell you how the landscape of college basketball is changing.
And with NIL money, the transfer portal and the measuring stick of “NCAA Tournament-or-bust” determining the success of a season, it is true: the landscape of college basketball is changing. But what I don’t see talked about nearly as much — because it would dare shine a light on a flaw in the system — is how much the new era of collegiate athletics is altering the mentalities of the athletes.
Gone are the days where players remained within one program for a number of years in a row. In fact, it has gotten to the point where news that a player remaining with a team is almost more exciting than if they were to enter the portal. But ultimately, when you consider the system currently in place, you can’t blame players for seeking out the best option that will set them up for years to come.
For example, in the complete and utter capitulation by the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team in its National Invitation Tournament (NIT) first round game on March 18 — in front of one of the loudest home crowds the team has had behind it all season — it is hard to necessarily blame some of the players whose efforts were not nearly up to par with what they had shown to be capable of throughout the season. They too are a victim of the get-rich-quick scheme that is all but eliminating the importance of mid and low-major programs.
And within a number of the Bona players, that mindset was evident against Kent State.
The Bonnies started off the game hot, riding high off the emphatic support from their dedicated fanbase. But as soon as things started to go wrong, they went very wrong. And instead of having their heads in the game, it seemed more like some players had their thoughts already on where they would suit up next year.
The result: a half-hearted effort that saw Bona throw away a game well within their clutches and, simultaneously, the chance at an NIT title run. And it was obvious, when you consider the fact that the Reilly Center was just about empty, following a mass exodus of fans, with just about 10 minutes left in the game, that the fans were not all that appreciative.
Now, a lack of effort is never great, in a regular season game or otherwise, but when it comes to the NIT, that lack of effort does not go by unnoticed, especially after the fiasco at the end of last season that saw the Bonnies, surprisingly, reject an invitation to the tournament, a choice that led to a change in athletic directors. A postseason game was already up in the air considering the injury crisis the team found itself in towards the end of the campaign. But, according to coach Mark Schmidt, his seniors “wanted to play.”
Which, if you consider the product they put on the floor for the majority of the game against Kent State, you could make an argument they wanted the opposite.
But nevertheless, the Bonnies made their triumphant return to the NIT for the first time since 2022, when they reached the Final Four of the tournament. A moment that Schmidt noted was a “tribute to the season that we had.”
Unfortunately, the past tense Schmidt used shined through in the effort and production of his players on the court and, considering the rich history Bona and its fans have with the NIT, the well of support and sympathy of the fans ran dry behind a lackluster performance.
It was a complete off-color display by a number of players, and criticism of their effort on the day can be justified. But, once again it is not exactly their fault that the system in place has all but rendered playing for trophies like the NIT as meaningless for those who are using teams solely as springboards. Players have the most options available to them the sooner they enter the portal and the sooner they take an offer. The fear is that they will be too late and their chance at taking the next step will be gone if they bother sticking around longer than they physically have to.
Now, of course, this is not the case for every player or every team. Plenty of teams and players have the desire to keep playing for as long as they can, and I don’t doubt that Bona entered its game against Kent State with that as its intention. Unfortunately, the second the offense stopped producing and the Flashes climbed their way out of the hole the Bonnies initially put them in, it seemed as though that desire faded away, fast.
The bad news is that the business of college basketball is not set to change, especially while good money continues to roll in. And unfortunately, programs like St. Bonaventure now must rely upon good-spirited and empathetic players that understand what these programs mean to the communities they are in. Players like Noel Brown and players like Melvin Council Jr., the latter who is poised to be the next figurehead of the Bona program.
