St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt's phone buzzed incessantly after his team's surprising 69-55 victory at UMass on Saturday, but most of the calls and texts had little to do with the game.
All Schmidt's friends wanted to do was razz him about the nasty spill he took when his motorized scooter tipped over during the postgame handshake line.
"Nobody really asked if I was alright. They just laughed at me," Schmidt said Monday with a chuckle. "I'm fine. It's not the first time I've fallen off the scooter. It's the third or fourth time. So my body is getting used to it."
Schmidt has been using a scooter to get around since tearing his left Achilles tendon during practice last month.
"It was a freak thing," he said. "I pivoted in practice like I do every day, and I think it was just going to happen. It was meant to be. Talking to other coaches who have done this in the last three or four years, they've explained what it felt like. As soon as it happened, I told my assistants, 'I think I ripped my Achilles' and that's exactly what happened."
Easing some of Schmidt's embarrassment over his fall is his joy at how well St. Bonaventure (8-4) performed against a UMass team that reached the NCAA tournament last season. The Bonnies bounced back from a pair of dismal losses against Maryland Eastern Shore and previously behind a brilliant defensive effort as the Minutemen shot only 35.2 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers.
"The way we played at Delaware and the way we played against Maryland Eastern Shore, you can't win that way," Schmidt said. "I think our guys realize that now. You can't outscore guys. If you're going to win on the road especially, you have to defend and you have to be the tougher team. I think we learned from that, and it showed a little bit in the UMass game."
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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