ST. BONAVENTURE — As is now customary, the most eventful entries to the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule had long been known.
The Bonnies, we knew, are one of four teams that will participate in the Legends Classic inside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Nov. 16-17, joining Notre Dame, Auburn and Oklahoma State. They’ll also meet Florida Atlantic, a surprise Final Four participant in 2023 and a projected top 10 team for next season, in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 16 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.
Of course, there’s also their annual rivalry games, which for the first time in four years includes a contest against Little 3 foe Niagara.
On Wednesday, the remainder of Bona’s non-league slate was revealed. And it seems to coordinate fairly well with a Bonnies group that undeniably possesses more talent than it did a year ago, but one that’s still unproven in the Atlantic 10: there’s a decent mix between challenging and favorable.
Bona will host Longwood, of the Big South Conference, in its season-opener on Monday, Nov. 6 at the Reilly Center. It’ll be the program’s first-ever matchup with the Lancers, who won 20 games last winter (12-6 league). It’s also one of three “buy games” on the calendar (meaning Bona is paying that opponent to come to the RC and won’t have to make a return trip), alongside meetings with Bucknell (Nov. 22) and Binghamton (Dec. 22). The Bonnies last played Bucknell in the 2018-19 season-opener, falling 88-85 in overtime. This will mark their seventh meeting against the Bearcats, against whom they’re 5-1 all-time.
The Bonnies will also play all three of their Big Four rivals, plus continue their long-running series with Siena, arranging the schedule to where two each are home and away. Coach Mark Schmidt’s team will host Canisius in the series’ 171st installment (with Bona leading 102-68) on Nov. 11 and take on Siena at the RC on Dec. 9, when it will look to retain the Franciscan Cup after falling in Albany last year.
It’ll play back-to-back road Big 4 contests when it visits Buffalo on Dec. 2 and Niagara on Dec. 6. This will mark the Bonnies’ first matchup with the Purple Eagles since 2019 (and first trip to the Gallagher Center since 2018) after the COVID-ravaged 2020-21 campaign and Niagara coach Greg Paulus’ rumored reluctance to play Bona or find a workable date over the last two years. In a series Bona leads 89-71, it will be the teams’ 161st all-time meeting.
Bona will host Miami (Ohio), of the Mid-American Conference, in another first-ever meeting on Nov. 25. This gives it a pair of home games on either side of Thanksgiving, with Bucknell coming in on Wednesday and the Redhawks visiting on Saturday. Additionally, it’ll head to Fort Myers, Fla., to complete its home-and-home with Florida Gulf Coast, which beat the Bonnies last December at the RC. The date for that game will be announced later this summer, Bona said, but will most likely be sometime in November.
The Bonnies will conclude the non-conference on Dec. 30 in another neutral site game against Akron in Cleveland. Bona and the Zips, who have become one of the top programs in the MAC, opened the 2020-21 season in an empty Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, with the former pulling out an 81-74 triumph.
In total, Bona could potentially play three postseason teams from last year: Florida Atlantic, Auburn (both NCAA Tournament) and Oklahoma State (NIT). In an indication that this could be one of the Bonnies’ weaker overall out-of-conference slates in the last 8-10 years, they could play four teams that ranked No. 105 or better in the 2023 NET — FAU (13), Auburn (35), Oklahoma State (42) and Akron (105) and up to nine teams that placed No. 181 or lower — FGCU (181), Notre Dame (184), Buffalo (194), Siena (206), Niagara (244), Canisius (261), Miami (Ohio, 287), Bucknell (292) and Binghamton (297).
Still, there exists the potential for a couple of resume-building victories and to stack its win total heading into the Atlantic 10 season.
Bona’s two games in the Legends Classic and neutral site matchup with Florida Atlantic could well represent three “Quadrant I” win opportunities. Road games against FGCU, Buffalo and Akron might be “Quadrant II chances (versus NET No. 135 or better) with the rest likely serving to pad the Bonnies’ win total.
Following is Bona’s full non-conference schedule:
ST. BONAVENTURE
2023-24 NON-CONFERENCE
November
Mon., 6, vs. Longwood, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sat., 11, vs. Canisius, 4 p.m., ESPN+
Thurs., 16 vs. TBA (Legends Classic)%
Fri, 17, vs. TBA (Legends Classic)%
Wed., 22, vs. Bucknell, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sat., 25, vs. Miami (Ohio), 2 p.m., ESPN+
December
Sat., 2, at Buffalo, TBA
Wed., 6, at Niagara, TBA
Sat., 9, vs. Siena, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Sat., 16, vs. Florida Atlantic%5E, TBA
Fri., 22, vs. Binghamton, 7 p.m.
Sat., 30, vs. Akron*, TBA
TBA, at Florida Gulf Coast
% at Barclays Center, Brooklyn
%5E Basketball Hall of Fame Classic,
MassMutual Center, Springfield, Mass.
* at Cleveland
