A year ago at this time, it was all on display.
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, remember, had closed December with an ugly Atlantic 10-opening loss to Rhode Island, A month later, however, it had all but transformed into the force we’d know it to be.
Bona was stifling defensively, holding five-straight opponents to 61 points or fewer. It might not have been the best shooting team, but it attacked with abandon, creating more than enough offense to succeed. It was blue-collar, as evidenced by almost always winning the rebounding battle; it was sharp in its execution, as indicated by its 41-14 second-half masterpiece versus VCU.
The Bonnies went 7-0 last January, and won those games by an average of 13 points. That’s the team that would go on to win an A-10 regular-season title, run roughshod over three foes in the league tournament and earn a No. 9 seed in the Big Dance. That’s the squad that began this year 5-0 with a Charleston Classic championship.
But it’s not the one they are right now, at least on a consistent enough basis.
And every time it looks as though they might be back to being that team, the one that carried itself with a certain swagger in that 71-53 decimation of Saint Louis in last year’s A-10 Tournament semifinals, they issue a reminder that there’s still something missing. The latest example came Wednesday night in a 75-66 loss at George Mason.
FOR TOO long, again, Bona struggled in the very areas it has long hung its hat on, particularly on the defensive end, where it allowed the Patriots to shoot 52 percent, including 15-of-32 from 3-point range. It was the same five guys that ground these types of teams to a nub last year, but, with the scoreboard showing George Mason 51, St. Bonaventure 33, they didn’t look it.
The question is, why?
The long answer probably involves a combination of factors.
Bona, after playing virtually no non-conference last year, and in empty arenas against an A-10 that was decidedly down outside of the top four (SBU, Saint Louis, VCU and Davidson), has unquestionably faced a more daunting challenge this season. And for as good as it still is, the rest of the league has clearly closed the gap, as the likes of Dayton and George Mason have already proven.
Mason was just okay in its final year under Dave Paulsen. Duquesne had lost its entire starting backcourt by the time Bona played it twice in an eight-day stretch last January. Even Davidson wasn’t quite the same scary Davidson that Bona has seen before, and will see again on Tuesday.
Those teams, and others, have only gotten better in 2021-22.
AND YES, Bona has five quality starters back, but none — outside of Jaren Holmes and Jalen Adaway in spurts — have necessarily taken that next big step we’re accustomed to seeing in seniors under Mark Schmidt.
There’s also the oft-discussed bench. Bona, so far, is actually getting less from its reserves this season than it did last year, with the starters accounting for 92.9 percent of the scoring compared to 89.3 percent in 2020-21. That’s an astounding realization given just how little it received last year and the perceived upgrades heading into this season.
Then consider: A 25-day midseason pause due to COVID-19.
The continued mental and physical toll that the pandemic has been taking. The shellshock of realizing you might not be as invincible as you were in Charleston.
Those all could be contributing elements for why Bona has been so inconsistent this year.
But, from here, the primary component is this: The Bonnies, for whatever reason, have gotten away from their identity, the very characteristics that made them such a feared team to begin with.
These Bonnies had always made it a point to attack the rim, to achieve an almost-harmonious level of half-court execution, to share the ball, to make a commitment of clamping down defensively. Too often now, they seem disconnected, a team that settles for too many 3s and can be had at the other end. And the black-and-white of that can be found in the following statistic: Last year, Bona finished the season 20th nationally in adjusted defense, per the KenPom metric. This year, with the same five, it sits 147th.
FOR NOW, anyway, the at-large discussion probably needs to be halted.
At this point, Bona would likely need to go on a run similar to the one the 2017-18 team made, when it ripped off 12-straight wins following a 2-4 start to league play, to vault back into contention. The key difference is that while those Bonnies had most of their toughest games out of the way by that point, this group still has multiple dates with Richmond and Saint Louis, plus games with Davidson and Rhode Island and a return trip to VCU.
No, for right now, Bona needs to reestablish its identity, find a way to, again, become that team that no one wants to play.
If it does, and they’re at their best the way they were against Marquette and VCU, then yes, it could be capable of going on that type of run, of competing for another A-10 title, of repeating as tournament champions and earning another automatic bid. They need to relocate that undeniable “look.”
And what better time, as history has shown us, for Bona to begin fully clicking than when the calendar flips to February?
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
