DAYTON, Ohio — They’ve never met in a collegiate game, but Jaylen Adams and Aaron Holiday are no strangers.
Last spring, both players tested the NBA draft waters before ultimately deciding to return to St. Bonaventure and UCLA, respectively. While traversing the country showcasing their abilities to NBA personnel and collecting valuable feedback, their paths happened to cross in an Atlanta gym last April 29.
Adams and Holiday were part of a four-man workout for the Hawks that included Utah’s Kyle Kuzma, now with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado, who also wound up withdrawing his name.
According to one account, the two were paired together for drills and one-on-one work for much of the hour-long session. And they not only both impressed that day, but went hard at each other while doing so.
This year, both players are expected to be taken. In the latest mock draft on nbadraft.net, Adams, a senior, is projected to go in the second round at No. 41 to Detroit — up from the low 50s earlier this year — while Holiday, only a junior, is slotted in the first round at No. 26 to Portland.
Before that, however, the two point guards will actually get a chance to play each other, and on the biggest stage in the sport. That was made so when the Bonnies and Bruins were paired together as No. 11 seeds in a “First Four” matchup tonight inside UD Arena.
In one of the first games of the tournament, fans will be treated to a matchup of two of the best guards in the country.
When the Associated Press All-America teams are released in the coming days, Holiday will almost certainly be either a second or third team selection while Adams might well be an honorable mention. Both made Bleacher Report’s list of the Top 25 players in this year’s Dance, with Holiday ranked No. 16 and Adams at No. 12.
Here’s what Bleacher Report had to say about the Bona point guard:
“It would be great if the Bonnies could go on a run so everyone in the country gets to see how good Jaylen Adams is … If you’re looking for a good mid-major team to ride to the Sweet 16 in your bracket, he makes St. Bonaventure an attractive choice.”
For the 6-foot-2 guard, an appearance in the tournament has been a long-time coming. He’s looking forward to a chance at leaving his mark.
“I’m extremely excited to just get a chance to play on a big stage again,” he said. “We got a chance to play against a big name opponent again, so we’re kind of going out there with that same mentality we’ve had all year, Game 7, and we’re just ready to get to it.”
UD Arena has always made for one of the most challenging road environments of the season for the Bonnies. Tonight, it will almost certainly feel like a home game, thanks in large part to a notable alumnus.
Adrian Wojnarowski, a 1991 Bona grad and the lead NBA reporter for ESPN, and his wife Amy ‘92 spearheaded a large donation campaign with a $10,000 gift to send busloads of students to the game and support a watch party for students in the university’s Rathskeller. By Monday, over 400 alumni and friends had donated close to $50,000 to the cause.
The team is looking forward to playing in yet another pro-St. Bonaventure environment.
“It’s real exciting,” senior Matt Mobley said. “Our fans travel everywhere. I’m not really surprised that they’re going to come out here to Dayton. They love their team. We love our fans, so it’s real exciting that we’re going to have a lot of them here for our game.”
The location itself could be a big built-in advantage for the Bonnies.
Adams played two of the biggest games of his career at UD Arena, scoring 31 in Bona’s upset win over the 15th ranked Flyers in 2016 while racking up 35 — a career high until this season — as a junior.
Plus, there may be a comfort level in the fact that Bona has played there in each of the last four seasons, most recently in January.
“Yeah, this would be the first time we don’t get booed,” coach Mark Schmidt joked. “I think one of the advantages, if we have an advantage, is that we’ve played here a number of times. Our guys know the floor, the rims. So yeah, there’s a comfort.
“I know that since we’re playing in an Atlantic 10 arena, we’ll have a lot of fan support, not just from the Bonnies, but from the Dayton people. So it should be a good night, it should be a great environment.”
Bona fans need look no further than their own conference to find teams that have fared well in the Big Dance out of the “First Four.”
In 2011, VCU, then in the Colonial Athletic Association, advanced from the “First Four” all the way to the Final Four. Two year later, when La Salle, made a surprising run to the Sweet 16, it too started its tournament on Tuesday.
Every year since its inception in 2011, at least one “First Four” team has won a round of 64 contest after being in the play-in game. No. 11 seeds in particular have fared well, with three teams (2015 Dayton, ‘16 Wichita State and ‘17 USC) advancing to the round of 32, one (2014 Tennessee) to the Sweet 16 and one (2011 VCU) to the Final Four.
Lost in an eventful Selection Sunday for the Bonnies were two accomplishments from Mobley.
Mobley was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team after scoring 29 points in a quarterfinal round win over Richmond and 17 in a semifinal loss to Davidson. He was joined on the team by the Wildcats’ Peyton Aldridge and Kellan Grady, Rhode Island’s Jeff Dowtin and VCU’s Justin Tillman.
The senior guard is just the sixth Bonnie to earn all-tournament team honors, joining Mark Jones (1982), Alvin Lott (‘84), Tim Winn (‘00), Demitrius Conger (‘12) and Andrew Nicholson (‘12, MVP).
With his five treys against Davidson, the Worcester, Mass. native also set the program mark for 3-pointers in a season with 102, surpassing Chris Matthews’ record of 101 set in the 2009-’10 campaign.
