(Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series centering on last Friday’s conference call with St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt. Today: Schmidt speaks on the uncertainty surrounding the coming season).

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — You see the pictures of the players back on campus and the business-as-usual announcement of the home-and-home pairings for the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 basketball season.

You consider that St. Bonaventure is scheduled to start its school year at the end of the month and the gap that still exists between now and what would be the Bonnies’ season-opener … almost three months exactly.

And you want to think — and pray — that maybe, just maybe, hoops will be played and fans will be present at the Reilly Center this winter. But the truth is that the coming college basketball season is in as precarious a position as anything else in sports right now, the prospects for which are ever-changing, a reality that Bona coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged in a conference call on Friday.

This year, we’ve heard, could play out as scheduled, be pushed back and limited to A-10 games only or be wiped out entirely. Schmidt and the Bonnies are preparing for the former while bracing for whatever is ultimately decided.

“I don’t know, it’s such a fluid situation,” said Schmidt, citing what has become the refrain for just about everything amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “ … If I was a betting man, I would probably say that it’s going to be January and we’re going to play 18-20 conference games and the Atlantic 10 Tournament, but who knows? It changes everyday.

“Hopefully, we can get to where we play a (regular schedule), just like we always do, but keep your fingers crossed. I know that’s what all the coaches and players want, and hopefully that happens. Right now, we’re working toward starting things up, practicing in October and hopefully playing a whole season.”

AT THE moment, the men’s basketball team feels relatively safe.

The Bonnies, almost all of whom are back and have twice tested negative (both before and after their arrival), essentially have the campus to themselves. They now reside in a controlled environment, with a number of protocols in place around the practice floor and even an outdoor weight room setup to promote physical distance.

That, of course, will change when Bona presumably welcomes back its entire student population at the end of August. For Schmidt, that’s the first hurdle that needs to be successfully cleared before the next basketball season can begin to unfold. And that’s to say nothing of what state and federal restrictions might still be in place come November.

“Forget about basketball,” the 14th-year coach said. “(It’s) just being safe on campus. When you bring 2,000 kids back from all different areas of the country, that’s a concern, but then you throw on top of that the whole social distancing, the locker rooms, the travel on the chartered flights, staying in a hotel room … there are so many things that could lead to us getting the virus.”

He noted that Bona has done the best it can in terms of creating the safest possible surroundings for its players. It’ll do whatever it needs to comply with any rules and regulations set forth by the A-10 and the NCAA.

But will that ultimately be enough as the coronavirus maintains its iron grip on the country?

“We’re going to do the best that we can,” Schmidt said. “We’ve done a good job so far, but students haven’t come back yet. In essence, our players are really in a bubble here in Olean. The challenge is when students come back, can we still be as disciplined as we are now?”

THE PROSPECT of a shortened season — and a Bona basketball-less winter until at least January — has, for some fans, been difficult enough to accept.

The idea of hoops being played in the RC with no fans in attendance?

That would be something else entirely.

The hypothetical was posed to Schmidt during his 20-minute gathering with media members over Zoom, one of a handful of such questions given the uncertain nature of the 2020-21 campaign. The answers, we know, will come in time, but it wasn’t lost on the Bona boss the edge his team stands to lose if the Bonnies don’t have their typically rowdy home crowd behind them.

“We’ll lose a lot,” he said flatly. “I always say, the RC is one of the best places to play in the country, it’s one of the most difficult places to play in the A-10. There’s a reason why we’ve had a lot of success at home — we’ve had good players, but it’s the support that we get from students and the community; it’s really unmatched.

“If we can’t have games (with fans) in the stands, it’s going to make it much easier for the opponents to play at the RC … so that’s a concern, but we understand why they may have to do it. The home court (wouldn’t be) the home court like it has been. Hopefully that doesn’t happen; hopefully the RC can continue to be one of the most difficult places to play for an opponent.”

Schmidt and the Bonnies, to be sure, want to play basketball again, and want to do so without fear of getting themselves, or somebody else, sick.

They, like the rest of us, want to return to at least some level of normalcy.

But in their four months apart from one another and in now preparing for the unknown, they’ve also gained needed perspective.

“For us, who knows; it’s always in the back of your mind that you’re not going to have a season,” admitted Schmidt, who’s set to return his entire starting five, plus top reserve Alejandro Vasquez, and welcome in eligible transfer Jalen Adaway for the coming year. “Hopefully that doesn’t come to fruition, that we get a vaccine or that we do things the right way and we’re able to play this season …

“But it’s a tragedy, it really is. It’s something that we’ve never experienced before, and hopefully we can get through it.”

(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)