Bonaventure v St Joe's in Rochester tomorrow | Syracusefan.com

Bonaventure v St Joe's in Rochester tomorrow

adk(roc)CUSE

adk(roc)CUSE

All Conference
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
2,132
Like
3,877
So a few weeks ago I noticed on one of the local stations that St Bonaventure would be playing St Joes at the Blue Cross arena. My wife is working that night and I love college hoops so I thought what the heck and bought myself a ticket to the game. As it turns out it is a pretty big game as it is for a share of first place in the A-10. Hopefully it's a lively environment. I realize the Bonnies share the bubble with us but I will probably halfheartedly be pulling for them as I think we'll likely to get in regardless what they do.

I got to thinking about hoops games in Rochester and I seem to remember years ago Syracuse playing the Bonnies in Blue Cross, probably Wallace's senior year? This was long before I lived in Rochester. I understand Syracuse would never give up a game at the Dome but I think it would be great to make Syracuse vs the Bonnies a regular or somewhat regular occurrence here in Rochester. While we would lose 1 game at the Carrier Dome I think the program would benefit by trying to pump some life into a somewhat luke warm Orange territory. When I moved here 4 years ago I was stunned by the apathy towards Syracuse athletics. The Adirondacks which is an hour further away from Syracuse than Rochester bleeds Orange. Perhaps along with NYC it would be wise to try to grow throughout western NY as well? Just a thought, people who make way more than me are more keen on such subjects.

Anyway I very much look forward to catching an important college basketball game tomorrow night 10 minutes from my house. And yes I will be wearing Orange.
 
IIRC, that was a Bona's "home game" in Rochester. They play one game at the Blue Cross Arena almost annually. They've "hosted" Georgia Tech, SU and evidently St. Joes. Maybe George Mason too ... I just looked it up, this will be St. Bonaventure's 9th games at the Blue Cross Arena since 2000.

As for Rochester, it's winter pastime is hockey. Nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to college hoops, there is no doubt that Syracuse basketball is what moves the needle. Especially in late February and March. I am not even sure what schools line up behind (well behind) the Orange. My estimation would be Notre Dame for all of the obvious reasons, mostly having to do with football.

I think it would be interesting to know how many Rochesterians are in the Dome for an average ACC game. My guess is that number would fluctuate from 500 to 30000 depending on the night (Tuesday or Saturday night) and opponent (Duke or Clemson).

Don't sleep on Rochester ... there is some decent money in the town, especially on the East side, which is obviously closest to Syracuse.
 
SU94 said:
IIRC, that was a Bona's "home game" in Rochester. They play one game at the Blue Cross Arena almost annually. They've "hosted" Georgia Tech, SU and evidently St. Joes. Maybe George Mason too ... I just looked it up, this will be St. Bonaventure's 9th games at the Blue Cross Arena since 2000.

As for Rochester, it's winter pastime is hockey. Nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to college hoops, there is no doubt that Syracuse basketball is what moves the needle. Especially in late February and March. I am not even sure what schools line up behind (well behind) the Orange. My estimation would be Notre Dame for all of the obvious reasons, mostly having to do with football.

I think it would be interesting to know how many Rochesterians are in the Dome for an average ACC game. My guess is that number would fluctuate from 500 to 30000 depending on the night (Tuesday or Saturday night) and opponent (Duke or Clemson).

Don't sleep on Rochester ... there is some decent money in the town, especially on the East side, which is obviously closest to Syracuse.
Expand...

They likely do that because half their students are from the Rochester area. Or at least it seemed that way when my wife went there.
 
SU94 said:
IIRC, that was a Bona's "home game" in Rochester. They play one game at the Blue Cross Arena almost annually. They've "hosted" Georgia Tech, SU and evidently St. Joes. Maybe George Mason too ... I just looked it up, this will be St. Bonaventure's 9th games at the Blue Cross Arena since 2000.

As for Rochester, it's winter pastime is hockey. Nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to college hoops, there is no doubt that Syracuse basketball is what moves the needle. Especially in late February and March. I am not even sure what schools line up behind (well behind) the Orange. My estimation would be Notre Dame for all of the obvious reasons, mostly having to do with football.

I think it would be interesting to know how many Rochesterians are in the Dome for an average ACC game. My guess is that number would fluctuate from 500 to 30000 depending on the night (Tuesday or Saturday night) and opponent (Duke or Clemson).

Don't sleep on Rochester ... there is some decent money in the town, especially on the East side, which is obviously closest to Syracuse.
Expand...

Rochester just isn't much of a college basketball town. One of the frustrating things for me since I moved here has been finding a decent Syracuse bar. I realize I'm not going to find a Chucks or anything but I've made the rounds for some pretty big Syracuse games just to find a smattering of Orange and a lot of disinterested patrons. I'm really curious to see what the atmosphere is like for this Bonnies game tomorrow.
 
We played St. Bonaventure in Rochester in the McNamara-Warrick era too. Pretty sure it was 2003-04.
 
adk(roc)CUSE said:
Rochester just isn't much of a college basketball town. One of the frustrating things for me since I moved here has been finding a decent Syracuse bar. I realize I'm not going to find a Chucks or anything but I've made the rounds for some pretty big Syracuse games just to find a smattering of Orange and a lot of disinterested patrons. I'm really curious to see what the atmosphere is like for this Bonnies game tomorrow.
Expand...

Honestly, I know more than a handful of Bona alum that live in the area so I'm imagining it will be a very good turnout for them. I even messaged one of them to find out where the folks will be partying before hand if you like. Good peeps by and large.
 
I'm hearing Otter Lodge is the Bona place to be.
 
Easily one of my worst SU memories was driving to Rochester from Syracuse in 1978 to see SU play St. Bonaventure for the ECAC championship. SU had a solid lead when coach Boeheim decided to go into stall mode and ended up losing by one. Terrible.
 
OrangeDW said:
We played St. Bonaventure in Rochester in the McNamara-Warrick era too. Pretty sure it was 2003-04.
Expand...
Correct. It was their 'home' game. 87-78 win. Crushed them the following year in the Dome.
 
I'll be there.

People consider Rochester a "Luke warm cuse town"? Really? Born and raised in Rochester and always considered it to bleed orange heavily. Most of my family and friends are rabid cuse fans. Have had college friends from Albany and nyc visit and they always talk about how crazy people are up here for cuse and how little anyone cares about the nba.
 
Last edited:
adk(roc)CUSE said:
Rochester just isn't much of a college basketball town. One of the frustrating things for me since I moved here has been finding a decent Syracuse bar. I realize I'm not going to find a Chucks or anything but I've made the rounds for some pretty big Syracuse games just to find a smattering of Orange and a lot of disinterested patrons. I'm really curious to see what the atmosphere is like for this Bonnies game tomorrow.
Expand...


Im not sure "bar turnout" is a great way to judge fandom in a sport like college hoops. Or any hoops. It's not a sport people flock to the bars to watch really. I can count the number of times I went to a bar to watch a cuse game on Jason Pierre Paul's hand. I guess it all depends on who you surround yourself with. I grew up in a family that bleeds orange, and not because anyone graduated there or anything. Just because in Rochester cuse is our home team. I also have a group of friends who care about CBb more than any other sport which I know is not the case for everyone so I guess it all depends. But this is absolutely a cuse town and along with the bills they are the team most covered by media and followed by the city in general.

Even my few friends who are bonaventure alum still root for cuse over them, because they had been their entire lives. Plus it's obviously a diff level of national relevancy.
 
Roll Cuse said:
Im not sure "bar turnout" is a great way to judge fandom in a sport like college hoops. Or any hoops. It's not a sport people flock to the bars to watch really. I can count the number of times I went to a bar to watch a cuse game on Jason Pierre Paul's hand. I guess it all depends on who you surround yourself with. I grew up in a family that bleeds orange, and not because anyone graduated there or anything. Just because in Rochester cuse is our home team. I also have a group of friends who care about CBb more than any other sport which I know is not the case for everyone so I guess it all depends. But this is absolutely a cuse town and along with the bills they are the team most covered by media and followed by the city in general.

Even my few friends who are bonaventure alum still root for cuse over them, because they had been their entire lives. Plus it's obviously a diff level of national relevancy.
Expand...

I trust your knowledge on this subject as you grew up here. Having moved here not so long ago I don't have a past of being an Orange fan in this area. Rather my past was growing up in what seemed to me to be a much more rabid SU sports Adirondack region...but of course I am recollecting many friends and family that shared my passion, much as you and your peers.

Also in the Adks the "local" television stations were primarily out of Syracuse, perhaps adding to an illusion of greater Orange fandom?

Good point on the bar scene. College hoops is not the NFL. I just wish there was a "Syracuse bar" in town.
 
A win by the Bonnie's would be a good thing for Syracuse. they have an RPI of 35 and if they beat St. Joe's who has an RPI of 26, that's a good thing.
Syracuse's RPI of 52 (today) would get a boost since we beat the Bonnie's. We need a better RPI, teams with RPI's in the 50's are bubble teams period, remember 2007?
We had an RPI of 46 and did not get in. Forget Sagarin, Pomeroy and ESPN the tournament committee puts a lot more weight on RPI than they do.
A Bonnie lose will drop our RPI even further so tonight's game is a big game for SU.
 
Cusetime said:
A win by the Bonnie's would be a good thing for Syracuse. they have an RPI of 35 and if they beat St. Joe's who has an RPI of 26, that's a good thing.
Syracuse's RPI of 52 (today) would get a boost since we beat the Bonnie's. We need a better RPI, teams with RPI's in the 50's are bubble teams period, remember 2007?
We had an RPI of 46 and did not get in. Forget Sagarin, Pomeroy and ESPN the tournament committee puts a lot more weight on RPI than they do.
A Bonnie lose will drop our RPI even further so tonight's game is a big game for SU.
Expand...

So it's settled. Go Bonnies
 
Marcus Posley w/46 for the Bonnies so far...

Bonnies up by 12, under 3:00 to play
 
adk(roc)CUSE said:
Rochester just isn't much of a college basketball town. One of the frustrating things for me since I moved here has been finding a decent Syracuse bar. I realize I'm not going to find a Chucks or anything but I've made the rounds for some pretty big Syracuse games just to find a smattering of Orange and a lot of disinterested patrons. I'm really curious to see what the atmosphere is like for this Bonnies game tomorrow.
Expand...
I thought I had posted this before, but apparently I didn't hit the post button.
Rochester does have a history of D1 b-ball. They had one of the original Christmas tournaments called the Kodak Classsic then the Rochester classic. It brought in 3 D1 schools to play 2 games each and the U of R was the host team despite being a D3 school. They had brought in some pretty good schools, such as UNC and Georgetown w Ewing. Usually the "draw" pitted the best team against U of R on the first night to offer a good matchup on the 2nd. One of the best group had USC with Paul Westphal and Penn when both were at least in the top 50 in the country. St. Bona filled out the group. Bona drew the U of R on the first night. Later on the U of R withdrew because they were so over matched. They tried to get Bona/Niagara/Canisus to rotate as host to help maintain a good alumni base for attendance. The last classic I believe was in 1997.

One of the ancient local sports writers has always bemoaned the fact that Rochester has no D1 school among the several colleges/universities here. He says it is the largest city in the country that is like that. The best now is RIT being D1 in hockey and they have made a good showing there.
 
I sat at midcourt last last night, literally directly behind Joe Lunardi. When he walked out, I said "Joe are the Bonnies in?" He replied "They need one more big win. Tonight would do it."

After the game, I said "Joe, are the Bonnies in now?" He gives me the thumbs up, and said "They're in."

I've never been a huge fan, but I will say this after sitting right behind him: He is incredibly friendly, down to earth and seems humble. Will chat and take photos with anyone who wants his time. I sort of turned to the Lunardi side after tonight.

What Posely did last night in Rochester I will be talking about 40 years from now. Unbelievable performance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
170,420
Messages
4,890,618
Members
5,996
Latest member
meierscreek

Share this page

Online statistics

Members online
31
Guests online
914
Total visitors
945
Totals may include hidden visitors.


...
Top Bottom