Diary Series: Dave Moore, Asst. Coach - St. Bonaventure

This season is filled with high expectations. As a staff, we have always had high expectations from day one on the job in 2007. However, this season, the high expectations are also coming from people outside the program. The coaches in the Atlantic 10 picked us to finish fourth out of 14 teams in the preseason polls. This is by far the highest St. Bonaventure has been selected in our four years here as a staff.

At the beginning of last season, we were picked to finish 13th. We ended up finishing seventh. So, obviously pre-season polls do not carry a lot of weight. The excitement for this coming season has been centered around our First Team All-Atlantic 10 big man, Andrew Nicholson. Andrew’s impact on the resurrection of this program over the last three years has been immeasurable. He has blossomed into a legitimate NBA first-round draft prospect and must have a big year for us to achieve our goals.

I have coached our post players for all of my four seasons at SBU. It has been fun to watch Andrew’s game develop over his career. He is a joy to work with everyday and has truly elevated the development of the entire group of post players. He will go down in history as one of the two or three greatest players in the history of the program. Right in there with names like Tom Stith and Bob Lanier. His No. 44 will forever hang in the rafters of the Reilly Center when he finishes his career.

But I also think it is important for people to know that this is not just a one man band. We return four starters from last year and have seven juniors and seniors on our team. Six of those guys have been with us since their freshman year. It’s a great feeling to see these guys blossom into men. Michael Davenport and Demitrius Conger are two of the most athletic wings in the A-10. Da’Quan Cook and Marquise Simmons are men at the power forward position who have improved their game by leaps and bounds over the course of their careers. It is a great feeling to know that we have rebuilt a very proud program the right way with good kids that will all get their degrees on time!

This is the first time I have stayed in one place long enough to see a recruiting class finish all four years. Our three seniors, Andrew, Michael and Da’Quan have been a joy to coach. We are playing for those guys and hope to send them out the right way this season. Let’s get this thing rolling! Good luck to everyone out there. Go Bonnies!!

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