Random thoughts on the Bills, St. Bonaventure’s men’s basketball team and Reilly Center history:
— So Pittsburgh, the No. 2 seeded team in the AFC, waltzed into Cincinnati Monday night, JuJu Smith-Schuster did his little dance on the opponent’s logo, then the Bengals proceeded to manhandle the Steelers, a team that had beaten them 11-straight times.
In a game where Cincinnati had nothing to play for and Pittsburgh had plenty at stake, the Steelers fell to 11-3, lost their third straight, and dropped to the No. 3 conference seed with two games to play.
Now it’s Buffalo (11-3) seeded second, thanks to its head-to-head win over coach Mike Tomlin’s reeling squad, and in line to host the weakest AFC wild-card (right now it’s Miami). Meanwhile, the Steelers need Buffalo to lose at least once (Monday night at New England or home against the Dolphins in the season finale) to reclaim the No. 2 spot.
And Pittsburgh, which just lost to the 3-10-1 Bengals, must also win twice, closing out its season hosting Indianapolis (10-4) and visiting Cleveland (10-4) with the Browns possibly having a shot at winning the division.
Even glass-half-full Steeler fans admit there’s something seriously wrong at this point in the season. And it’s not Smith-Schuster’s predictably ill-timed, pregame choreography on the Bengals’ logo — when you’re 11-0 it’s one thing, about to suffer a third-straight loss it’s quite another — there are clear football issues.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, at age 38 and likely Hall of Fame-bound, has looked old and slow the last quarter of the season.
In getting off to that unbeaten start, Pittsburgh won six of those games by one possession, all but one by five points or less. And, the 11th victory, 19-14 over Baltimore, marked the beginning of the Steelers’ current struggles. Then came a 23-17 loss to Washington (6-8), a 26-15 defeat by the Bills and Monday night’s debacle in Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh clearly has issues, but at this point in the season, which one does Tomlin address first?
— This column was supposed to be on the St. Bonaventure-UB basketball game yesterday afternoon at the Reilly Center.
Instead, it was cancelled when a member of Buffalo’s Tier I personnel (coaches, players, support staff) tested positive for Covid-19, forcing at least a 10-day pause in program activities.
Head coach Jim Whitesell was already in self-quarantine when the Bulls (3-3) fell to Syracuse (6-1) 107-96 in overtime Saturday at the Carrier Dome.
UB, after playing the Orange so tough, figured to be a good test for the Bonnies (2-0). Instead, Buffalo became the 159th NCAA Division I men’s or women’s program to have a positive coronavirus test.
Thus, St. Bonaventure became one of 21 of the 331 (active) Division I men’s teams to have played two games or fewer this season. The Bonnies’ 26-game schedule, with six non-conference cancellations, is down to 20 games, 18 of them Atlantic contests.
And a person familiar with Bona’s situation pointed out, “If people think selection of the NCAA (Tournament) at-large teams is going to be fair … it isn’t. How do you make a decision when teams have played a different number of games?
“You fall back on the power conferences and Bona (with non-conference wins over Akron and Hofstra) won’t have played any of those schools. Other than winning the A-10, the Bonnies have no chance to make it.”
— Last week, some of my friends were enjoying a few tankards of ale, and called me with a question: Who scored the first basket in Reilly Center history?
It’s a tough query as the RC is celebrating its 55th anniversary this season.
So, a little research was in order.
And the answer is … no one seems to know.
Back then, box scores were pretty much limited to field goals, free throws, rebounds and assists. There was no such thing as play-by-play accounts.
My best source was the reporting in the Times Herald.
The RC opened on Friday night, Dec. 2, 1966 before a crowd of 4,276 with the red seats selling for $3. However, the actual first game played was the prelim, Bona’s freshmen against Alfred with Bob Lanier, in his first appearance for SBU, scoring 37 in limited action during a 112-65 victory.
The varsity game was played at 8:30 p.m. (that’s when they used to start) and the Bonnies beat Quincy, a non-major, 100-64. Jeff Hazard, 6-foot-4, played center in place of injured Paul Steppanbeck, and scored a game-high 29 points.
However, nowhere in Bob Davies’ story was the first varsity basket mentioned, nor did it appear in a short piece about the freshman game.
Those who played in that frosh matchup are edging toward their mid-70s, but maybe one of them recalls who scored that first RC bucket.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
