Buffalo vs. St. Bonaventure odds
Buckle up for the heavyweight title fight for WNY!
(WNY = ‘Western New York’, for my fellow Midwestern citizens who do not know the nomenclature of northeastern geography).
Similar to Philadelphia’s “Big 5”, St. Bonaventure and Buffalo form two of WNY’s Big 4 alongside Canisius and Niagara. With all due respect to Canisius and Niagara, however, this is the marquee for basketball season in the Buffalo region.
After a year hiatus last season due to the non-conference restricted by COVID, the WNY rivalry will be back in action at 4 p.m. ET.
That bias will take place at the infamous Reilly Center, the Bonnies’ Crackerjack High School, which can get as loud as any crowd in America. That, however, depends on the Bonnies pleasing the Olean believers, which they struggled to achieve in their last two home games.
St. Bonaventure is ahead of Buffalo in the all-time series, 10-4, and has won six of the last seven matchups.
In this stark stylistic battle, the visiting Bulls are “thunder” for the Bonnies’ “lightning bolts”. Since taking over for former boss Nate Oats in 2019, Jim Whitesell has been running and shooting the Bulls at Mach 5 speeds. Currently, Buffalo has the nation’s 17th fastest pace as defined by KenPom.
The secret of Whitesell’s system is high octane athletes with a continuously running engine. He’s done that in groups this season, led by two physical specimens in Jeenathan Williams and Josh Mballa.
The Bulls will be underdogs in the fight against St. Bonny tonight, but will at no point give in as they didn’t against Michigan on opening night.
Since then, her only other flaw has come in the hands of Stephen F. Austin, who squeaked a point from the Bulls at Thanksgiving MTE.
The Bonnies have played seven games in their encores campaign, just months away from one of the best seasons of all time in programming history.
Mark Schmidt brought the entire band back from a team that finished 9th in last year’s NCAA tournament. It’s no secret why every media forecaster named St. Bonaventure a preseason A-10 favorite in 2022.
So far there has been a mixture of ups and downs, a true roller coaster ride of the performances. Ironically, the Bonnies played their best ball at the Disney-based MTE the weekend before Thanksgiving, when they posted Boise State, Clemson, and Marquette pretty convincingly.
Those stellar performances, however, were sandwiched between a staggering home loss to Northern Iowa – another lauded middle class this season – and three other lethargic performances against less competition. Yes, Schmidt and his ultra-savvy Bonnies went unharmed in these efforts, but they came out sluggish in all three games.
Buffalo vs. St. Bonaventure betting tip
If the Bonnies stumble out the gate again tonight, they could be staring at a replay of what happened last Saturday against northern Iowa.
Granted, the Panthers were knocked out behind the arch, but the Bonnies’ elite national defense, anchored by the best shot swatter Osun Osunniyi, should never drop 90 points, let alone at home.
The Bonnies’ concerns about this dangerous duel are compounded by the absence of Kyle Lofton, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the last game against Coppin State.
Lofton is the heartbeat of this ball club and has not missed a start in 93 games. That’s right, Lofton’s name has been on the grid of every St. Bonaventure game since the start of the 2018/19 season.
Pick: Buffalo +3.5
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