ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — It never seemed to be in question.

As they slogged off the court inside Indiana’s Assembly Hall last March, teary-eyed and tattered following their 76-61 loss to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the feeling surrounding these Bonnies was universal:

The five starters, regardless of what happens to the bench, will be back.

Bona was going to use this unsightly showing against the Tigers as fuel for an even better 2021-22 season. It had unfinished business to tend to in their senior season, the final go-round. Why be a mercenary for a decent to middling Big Ten team when they were set to be the stars on their own nationally ranked, preseason favorite Atlantic 10 squad?

We know, however, how eager the power conferences are to plunder from the perceived “lesser” leagues, especially in this post-pandemic, free-for-all era. We’re well aware of the pie-in-the-sky promises they like to sell.

So, from that standpoint, perhaps Bona is luckier than we might have believed to have its entire quintet back this winter. And coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged as much in an A-10 Media Day press gathering, saying, “The five seniors, give them credit. They all came back, especially in this day and age of the transfer portal.”

No matter how certain (or not) that was going to be, all five are here and hungry, ready for one last magical run in a brown and white uniform. This is a group that loves Bona and its fans, and one the Bona faithful loves back in equal increments.

We know this lineup better than any that have come before it over the last 15 years.

But what about the eight new players (seven of whom will be eligible this season) who were brought in to be this year’s supporting cast?

A MONTH into practice, Bona is still trying to nail down the three to four guys that it hopes can provide what last year’s reserves could only sparingly supply: A genuine breather for the starters, legitimate production off the pine. But so far, one name has stood above the rest: Pittsburgh transfer Karim Coulibaly.

“He’s played at a high level, he’s a physical guy, he knows how to play,” Schmidt said of the 6-foot-8 forward, who started 20 of the Panthers’ 22 games last season, averaging five points and four rebounds, “so if there’s one guy in the first (month) of practice that has really stuck out to the coaching staff, it’s Karim.

“He’s tough, he’s physical, he can shoot the ball from the perimeter, he can play both the ‘4’ and the ‘5,’ and (hopefully) he can give ‘Shoon a little bit of a rest.”

No matter what, though, this year has to be different, Schmidt admitted. After all, Bona won’t have near the same “break” that it did last winter, when it played just two non-league games and often had a week between contests due to COVID pauses.

“Last year, as (everyone knows), we played maybe six guys — a lot of times it was just five,” he noted, “and I think the guys really got worn down at the end. I think and the hope is that we can have two, three, four of the new guys come in … and they don’t have to score a lot of points or get a lot of rebounds; they’ve got to play their roles and give the five seniors a little bit of a rest.”

THE BONA mantra, typically, is to invoke its 24-hour rule: Forget about a loss by the same time the next day.

But that LSU game has become the exception.

The Bonnies understand that on the biggest stage of the season, with an opportunity to prove they’re everybody bit as good as the power programs, fell flat, shooting a lowly 33 percent from the floor while seeing its top-tier defense break down over the final 20 minutes. And given that the same core is back this season to once again try to prove they’re worthy of a No. 23 national ranking, they can admit:

That LSU outcome has remained with them.

“The one thing about last year, we didn’t play well against LSU in the tournament,” Schmidt acknowledged, “and I think that’s the driving force to these guys this year. They’re motivated to try to repeat what we did, and it’s not easy — winning the A-10 and the A-10 Tournament, going to the NCAA Tournament, being a No. 9 seed. That’s really, really hard, and to duplicate that, it would be amazing. But the goal is to try to get back to the NCAA Tournament and try to advance.”

If nothing else, falling to the Tigers served as a reminder that for all this group has achieved, there’s still more it can accomplish.

“Our guys got a taste of it,” Schmidt said. “Now they want to try to get there again … try to advance, try to get to that second weekend, try to get to the third weekend. That’s what we want to do. The guys are working hard so far. We need some luck, but let’s embrace (being the A-10 preseason favorite) and see how good we can be.”

IN THE END, Bona very much orchestrated a non-league schedule befitting of the No. 23 team in the country, securing neutral court games with Virginia Tech and UConn, three games in the Charleston Classic and home games with Northern Iowa and Buffalo.

Schmidt called the slate both “important” and deserving.

“Especially now with the way the NCAA selection committee selects teams,” he said. “The non-conference is so, so important. We have a tough non-conference, probably the toughest since I’ve been here and probably in the last two to three decades. But our players deserve that; to be able to go and play in the Charleston Classic is something that we would never have thought of being invited to 10 years ago.

“It’s important, our guys wanted to play this type of schedule, and now it’s on. But it’s really important. You need to have some wins in the non-conference to really legitimize yourself come Selection Sunday.”

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