By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
Let’s call it “Mark Schmidt’s revenge.”
It was supposed to be Schmidt’s final game as coach of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team after “retiring” following last Saturday’s loss to Davidson at the Reilly Center.
All that was left to round out at his career was an Atlantic 10 last-place game against LaSalle Wednesday morning in Pittsburgh.
But a funny thing happened at PPG Arena.
Schmidt’s Bonnies conjured their best performance of the season, eviscerating the Explorers 99-80.
In fairness, winning a 12 (LaSalle) vs.13 (Bona) A-10 tournament game isn’t exactly like making the NIT semifinals especially against a team plagued by injury.
But this is a game the Bonnies could easily have mailed in via a “run-for-the-bus” effort.
Instead, Schmidt’s crew put five players in double figures: Buddy Simmons 21, Frank Mitchell 18, Desonte Bowen and Charles Cayden both 16 and Daniel Egbuniwe 13.
Mitchell missed by a rebound of his 20th double-double but still had more than double any A-10 player.
The Bonnies led by as many as 26 in the second half and shot remarkably: 57% from the floor, 54% from threes and 71 from the line.
Next up for Bona is a meeting with fifth-seeded George Mason, a team SBU lost to, 71-58, in Washington and 77-74 at the Reilly Center, a game the Bonnies led by 14 with eight minutes to play, and a loss which turned out to be he most galling defeat of Schmidt’s SBU career.
MEANWHILE, the mystery of Schmidt’s “retirement” continues.
In my piece after his announcement, I posed the cynical question, “Did he jump or was he pushed?”
And now we might have an answer.
The buzz on campus this week is that Schmidt would be paid the buyout from next year’s contract (about $1.5 million) with a wealthy donor adding $1 million to sweeten the pot to $2.5 million … slightly more than the figure that was floated on campus when Schmidt announced he was “retiring.”
To be sure, that information comes fresh from the rumor mill and might have no merit … might.
But, from a personal standpoint, after I wrote the piece about Schmidt announcing he was “retiring,” I received dozens of emails from readers.
Do you know how many said Schmidt’s exit was merited.
NONE!
That’s not the percentage that would be expected.
And if Schmidt takes another job … we’ll probably have our answer.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at [email protected].)
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• Pollock addresses ‘elephant in the room’ and asks Mark Schmidt if he’s coaching Bona
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• Chuck Pollock’s Top 25 Bills games he’s covered at Highmark Stadium
• Pollock pulls no punches in his St. Bonaventure basketball assessment
