To Dave Moore, much of this comes back to him …
Or more particularly, his scout.
Moore recruited Kyle Casey, the former Harvard star and one of the top players on The Nerd Team, in his early days as an assistant at St. Bonaventure, describing Casey as “a guy we really wanted.”
He also evaluated Brandon Sherrod, who’d go on to be a double-digit scorer at Yale, out of high school and saw plenty of Prentiss Hubb, who recently completed a standout career at Notre Dame.
So if Brown & White, the Bona alumni team, is going to knock out the Nerds in a Syracuse Regional first-round matchup of The Basketball Tournament (5 o’clock, ESPN3-live stream) at Onondaga Community College’s SRC Arena, a big reason might be the intimate knowledge of its foe.
“There is some familiarity with certain guys,” Moore, the 11-year Bona aide and second-year Brown & White coach said Wednesday, “and then you do research on the other guys, and (assistant) Steve Marcus has been awesome with that research and putting together the scout, along with Bob Gallagher and Idris (Taqqee, both on staff).
“Those guys have really helped me where I can just worry about the team and what we’re doing and how we’re executing.”
TO MARCUS Posley, B&W’s chances actually hinge a bit more on him.
A late commitment to last year’s inaugural Bona team, Posley acknowledged that he entered the 2021 TBT a bit out of shape and “not prepared for it.” He still finished with 12 points and six rebounds vs. Team Hines, but didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and committed five turnovers in a 67-56 first-round loss.
As someone who’s expected to be a top scorer, the same way he was in two years with the Bonnies, he knows: If Brown & White is going to advance, he’s almost certainly going to have to play well.
“I kind of let the guys down; I took a lot of responsibility on that because I didn’t know I was going to play right away,” he said. “So this year, I kind of took pride in it a little bit, trying to get back to somewhat in shape.
“(Probably) not college game shape, but just be able to play at that high level, that pro level with these guys. I had to take that into consideration and prepare for that because I made a promise to these guys.”
REGARDLESS of who’s at the forefront, Bona’s goals for 2022 are clear:
It wants to garner its first TBT victory and extend its stay at least through the weekend. It wants a potential second-round crack at Boeheim’s Army, the Syracuse alumni team, No. 1 seed and defending TBT champions. And it wants to give itself a chance at the event’s $1 million grand prize.
“Man, we’re definitely hungry,” Posley said. “We definitely left a lot of food on the table (last year) as Dion Wright would say.”
So what’s the key to taking down the fourth-seeded Nerd Team, so called for its collection of players from premier academic institutions? The first is to abide by the same principles that head Bona coach Mark Schmidt preaches to this day.
“From the time they were freshmen to now, they’ve heard this,” Moore said with a smile. “Defend, rebound, take care of the ball, make your foul shots, and that’s where it starts. We want to be good defensively, we want to be connected defensively, we want urgency on the backboard. We gotta take care of the ball in this thing to get good shots.”
And, more than anything, it has to make those shots.
This, after all, is a 64-team tournament featuring mostly high-level talent, from former college all-conference selections and draft picks, to overseas legends, to guys still fighting for an NBA contract. And fifth-seeded B&W knows: The 57 points and big offensive lull it had last year aren’t going to cut it.
“We gotta find some guys like Garrett Nevels (Hawaii) and Marcus Posley,” Moore said. “You saw Corey Sanders (Rutgers) make some shots tonight (at fan night Wednesday). Mike Davenport was making some shots tonight.
“You have to be able to make shots. When you get the wide open 3, and these guys were getting some tonight, when you get that shot, you gotta knock it down in the tournament when you’re going for a million dollars.”
BROWN & White consists of five former Bona players — Posley, Wright, Courtney Stockard, Da’Quan Cook and Davenport — and five “honorary Bonnies” from other Division I programs. Youssou Ndoye had previously committed, but had to withdraw due to contractual obligations with his new pro team.
Another plus, then, is that it has five players from the same program, some of whom played together, whereas The Nerd Team has guys from an array of schools (including a couple high-major players) and eras.
“I think what stands out this year for us to have a legitimate chance is that we play well together. We run the offense,” Posley said. “If you watch the TBT, a lot of teams play one-on-one and that’s the downfall of most teams.
“Having that structure and having that system in place and guys that grew up in that system, that kind of puts us at an advantage in our region.”
Among those to watch for the Nerds are Casey, the former First Team All-Ivy League selection, Paul Atkinson, a Yale transfer who averaged 13 points and seven rebounds at Notre Dame last season, Hubb (9 points, 4 assists last year at ND) and Sherrod, who averaged 14 and seven as a senior at Yale in 2015-16.
On paper, Brown & White will almost certainly be viewed as the underdog in its second-ever TBT contest. But that’s a role it’s embraced, and thrived in, going back to their days with the Bonnies.
“We’re used to being in that position,” Posley acknowledged. “So it’s really nothing new for us.”
