ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — It’s interesting how quickly failed expectations can kick in sports fans’ futility gene.
Just ask the 2021 Bills followers.
But it’s even affected some of the St. Bonaventure basketball faithful.
Optimism about this season’s team was off the charts … five returning senior starters and a spot in the Associated Press’ initial Top 25 poll.
Then came Nov. 27.
That’s when the University of Northern Iowa came into the Reilly Center and “shocked” the Bonnies, 90-80.
Some of Bona’s over 2,800 season ticket holders reacted as if the season had already been wrecked.
How could the then-5-0 Bonnies, favored by a dozen points, lose on their homecourt to a 1-3 team from a lesser conference?
Well, St. Bonaventure didn’t lose that game … Northern Iowa won it, on merit.
The Panthers shot lights-out on three-pointers, most notably junior guard A.J. Green, who conjured one of the best performances by a visitor in recent RC history.
Was Northern Iowa’s losing record a bit of a siren song for the Bonnies?
Possibly.
But Green and his mates still had to hit those long-range shots.
YET WHEN the Bonnies downed Loyola (Md.), 84-71, last night before 2,720 witnesses at Bob Lanier Court, their record improved to 8-1.
Yes, St. Bonaventure started last season, 9-1, but in the coronavirus-aborted ’20-’21 campaign, those 10 games — eight of them Atlantic 10 match-ups — were played over a span of 46 days, almost seven weeks.
You’ve got to go back to the 2000-01 season, an NIT campaign under Jim Baron, for the last time Bona opened the non-conference schedule, 8-1. In other words, the best such start in 21 years.
The point is this, it’s rare for the Bonnies have had this kind of start.
Oh, there have been some bumps along the way, four times, besides the loss to UNI, they have trailed by double digits at some point, then rallied to win.
AND TO BE sure, the going gets tougher starting Saturday afternoon when Bona meets No. 15 Connecticut at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Six days later it’s Virginia Tech at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center and the non-conference slate concludes Dec. 22 at Boston against Northeastern.
Last night, the Bonnies improved to 2-0 without their elite point guard, Kyle Lofton, lost to a high-ankle sprain suffered late in the win over Coppin State. And while it’s doubtful he’ll face UConn or even the Hokies, he would seem to have a good shot at the Northeastern game. And, given the healing parameters, it seems likely that he’d be ready for the Atlantic 10 opener — the most important part of the season — Dec. 30 at George Washington, 29 days after his injury.
LAST NIGHT’S win was hardly a work of art, the Bonnies played poor defense in the first half and trailed, 41-38, at intermission.
But they defended better in the second half, though it was still a two-possession game with three minutes to play.
And, after the game, coach Mark Schmidt put the win in perspective.
“There are no more ‘easy’ ones the rest of the way,” he said referring to the 5-5 Greyhounds from the Patriot League, “they’re all going to be difficult, starting with UConn on Saturday.
“The bottom line in this business is winning … and we’re winning, we’re 8-1 and that’s terrific. But we’re not a finished product. When you have a mature team (a lack of energy against a lesser opponent) shouldn’t happen.”
He added, “When we play without a lot of energy we’re just an average team (so) we’ve got to get better. We’re winning, and that’s a positive, but especially defensively we’ve got to get back to playing Bonaventure basketball.
“I tell the team all the time, you only have so many opportunities to put that uniform on … you work your tails off all summer and all fall to play these games and why cheat yourself out of a game or a (even a) half and not bring it?”
(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
