When you can't tell the story of the day

There was only one story coming out of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s game at Saint Joseph’s on Saturday night.

It wasn’t the Bonnies winning their seventh consecutive game, it wasn’t the Bonnies’ stellar defense in the final minutes, and it wasn’t even them keeping their fledgling at-large bid hopes alive.

The only story was Osun Osunniyi's injury.

In the second half, Bona’s all-Atlantic 10 center (and one of the most likable guys on a likable team) suffered what appeared to be a severe ankle injury. It looked bad in real time, and given Osunniyi’s importance to the Bonnies, it’s a critical piece of news heading into March.

So after the game, what did Bona fans learn about Osunniyi's status going forward?

Nothing.

There was no St. Bonaventure media covering the game. No reporter from The Times Herald, the Buffalo News, or from student media. No reporters from the Philadelphia papers, either.

And so there was no immediate update on Osun Osunniyi and his injured ankle. The story of the day, maybe the story of the season, went uncovered.

This is why access matters, why covering games in person matters. This demonstrates the limits of covering a game off a TV broadcast, with now ability to talk to people in the arena or describe anything that the director in the truck doesn’t show you.

To be very clear: This is not meant as an insult or a criticism of any of the reporters who normally cover St. Bonaventure or college sports in Western New York. Any reporter worth their salt wants to be there. It’s not even a criticism of the editors in charge of assignments. They’re all making the best decisions they can with limited resources.

No, this is a systemic problem facing sports journalism.

It’s one small example of the larger issues facing the entire news and sports media industry.

When the story of the day can’t be fully and properly reported, what are we even doing here?