ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Under ordinary circumstances, its focus would lie almost solely on the season.
On the games that lie ahead.
Free of the perils of a global pandemic, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team might be thinking about how to beat Saint Louis, which returns almost every key player from a team that handled it, 72-49, in last year’s regular season finale.
About how to better defend rising UMass star Tre Mitchell, who dropped 28 points as a freshman in Bona’s 74-61 victory in Rochester last January. About how it stacks up against the handful of other teams, Richmond, Duquesne and George Mason among them, with veteran-laden rosters in 2020-21.
Those kinds of things, the Xs and Os, the game-planning, will still command its attention, of course, as Bona attempts to navigate a season that promises to be mired in uncertainty. Only now, in this continued age of COVID-19, it has a whole different opponent it must address simultaneously.
IN ADDITION to game-planning for the Billikens and Spiders, who figure to be borderline Top 25 teams to begin the year, Bona will face the issues presented by traveling guidelines and restrictions.
Of mask-wearing and other protocols.
Of following the NCAA’s recommendation to test for the coronavirus three times a week.
Of the potential for losing a player indefinitely due to a positive case, of needing to quarantine in those instances, of starts and stops, of canceled or postponed games, of the prospect that its next game could be its last.
In that way, an otherwise (mostly) singular challenge for the Bonnies — competing for an Atlantic 10 title — becomes two-, three-, four- and five-fold and beyond. Next to the box that says, “make the NCAA Tournament,” there will always be a second: “Defeat COVID-19.” And so far, they’re doing everything they can to win that matchup.
“It’s the first thing that we talk about every day,” coach Mark Schmidt noted recently. “These guys want to play, they love to play, this is what they do, this is their passion. But they control it. They gotta make sure they do everything they can so we can have a season. Now, things can happen and you just never know, but we talk about wearing masks all the time, washing their hands, keeping social distance and not going to parties.”
It’s made for an added, but necessary, task for a team that already has plenty before it.
“It’s almost like you gotta be (more) responsible,” Schmidt said, “and that’s what we’ve been selling guys and they’ve taken it to heart. They understand that if there’s a breakout, the season could be in jeopardy. So they’re doing their part to give themselves and give us the best chance of having a basketball season.”
And here’s more as it relates to that season itself:
— Dates have been set for the three previously established season-opening games at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
Bona will open the year on Nov. 25, Thanksgiving Eve, against Towson and play on Thanksgiving Day against Stephen F. Austin. It will then remain at Mohegan for a Dec. 1 tilt against what has become a familiar non-league foe, Vermont.
Those contests are part of the “Bubbleville” event at Mohegan Sun, which will host as many as 30 teams in various pods from Nov. 25-Dec. 5 to start the season while providing a controlled environment that adheres to local, state and NCAA-mandated safety protocols and testing requirements. Additionally, all three come against notable mid-major programs which figure to be picked at or near the top of their conferences again this winter.
Game times and broadcast details will be released at a later date.
— Bona recently named its captains for the 2020-21 campaign: Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, Jaren Holmes and Jalen Adaway. It’s the third time in as many seasons that Lofton has earned the honor and the first for the latter three players.
Adaway earned the distinction despite having yet to play an official game for Bona, an indication of how much he’s impressed teammates and coaches in practice since transferring from Miami (Ohio) in the spring of 2019.
The Bona captains are chosen annually by a player vote.
— Late last month, NCAA hoops insider Andy Katz released his list of “10 under-appreciated college basketball programs that deserve more love.” Given that very term has long described them under Mark Schmidt, it was no surprise to see the Bonnies on this list, at No. 9.
Here’s what their notation had to say:
“The Bonnies have posted at least 18 wins each season since 2014, have also nabbed a First Four win back in 2018 over UCLA and have a coach whom Katz is high on — Mark Schmidt. According to Katz, Schmidt is all-in for St. Bonaventure. Some coaches might see small schools as a stepping stone to bigger programs, but Schmidt seems to like where he is now in Olean, N.Y. It’s never easy competing in the Atlantic 10, but the Bonnies seem to be in contention almost every year.”
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
