ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — In recent years, this game had largely been considered an afterthought.
Sure, there are the general curiosities that come with a preseason contest: How will the reserves fare? What will the freshmen look like? Who looks capable of stepping into a larger role?
But for the most part, this has been a cut-and-dry affair: The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s veterans will get their reps, a new guy might make an initial name for himself and the Bonnies will win big.
Not necessarily so this year.
In fact, if ever an exhibition game was appointment viewing, that comes tonight when Bona hosts Division III Alfred (7 o’clock, WPIG-FM, ESPN+live stream) inside the Reilly Center in its lone public tuneup before taking on St. Francis (Pa.) in its season-opener on Monday night.
THIS MARKS the first time fans — not to mention the coaching staff — will get to see virtually an entirely new team (12 of 13 scholarship players in all) in a real game situation. It will be the first step toward answering the myriad questions that come with that: Which five players will start? How will the rotation look? Who will emerge as the go-to scorers?
And the big one: simply, who are these guys?
Bona, coach Mark Schmidt noted, has taken “baby steps” in its quest to remain an Atlantic 10 contender, improving ever so slightly from the first day of practice, to its intrasquad scrimmage, to last week’s annual “secret scrimmage” with Kent State.
PER REPORTS, the Bonnies came out on the losing end of the latter contest, but were competitive in their first time taking the floor together. In that one, according to fan favorite account SBUnfurled, Holy Cross transfer Kyrell Luc, freshmen Yann Farell and Barry Evans and redshirt forward Anouar Mellouk impressed. The goal now is to take that next step, with the lights on against the Saxons.
“We’re making progress, but we’ve got a lot of room for improvement,” Schmidt, now in his 16th year, said. “That first (intrasquad) scrimmage as a coach and as a player, I think you find out what you’re decent at, what you gotta get better at. (But) we’ve got a long way to go. Some guys are a little bit further ahead of the other guys, but you need five guys playing together and knowing what to do to really have a good team.
“We’re learning, everyday hopefully we get better. That’s the goal, come into practice every day, try to get here and 2 ½, three hours later, when we walk out the door, hopefully we’re better individually and as a team. That’s the challenge … we’re far from a finished product.”
Just how good can we expect the Bonnies to be this year? At the moment, that depends on who you ask.
BONA WAS chosen to finish 10th of 15 teams in the A-10 preseason poll, its lowest outlook since being pegged for that same position ahead of 2014-15. However, it debuted at No. 119 in the initial KenPom rankings, good for eighth-best in the conference, and perhaps a bit high given the unprecedented turnover, and even higher — No. 92 — in the first Sagarin ratings.
Naturally, Bona isn’t concerned with where others see it. Its focus, more than ever before, is on itself. And this year, that’s involved a different approach than, say, 2017 or last fall, when the coaching staff knew what it had back.
“We’re trying to teach our system, and our system isn’t the easiest thing to learn,” Schmidt said. “There’s a lot of film study that goes on, those guys living with the assistant coaches trying to learn what we expect them to do.
“It’s a challenge from a coaching standpoint, but it’s a challenge from a player’s standpoint too. They don’t have anybody to look at to learn from. Good programs, good teams always have veteran guys to show the younger guys ‘this is how it’s done.’ We don’t have this this year, so that’s a huge challenge.”
FOR THE sixth time in seven years, Bona will meet the Saxons in its exhibition, and once more, it’s a family affair.
Schmidt will be again facing his youngest son, Mike, the former Olean star and Alfred’s second-leading returning scorer (10.1 points) from a team that went a solid 17-10 a year ago. More than that, former Allegany-Limestone standout Tyler Curran, the reigning Big 30 Player of the year, has joined his assistant father, Steve, as a walk-on at Bona and will be playing against older brother Casey, a key contributor with the Saxons.
Alfred’s lineup actually includes a quintet of former Big 30 stars, including Ellicottville’s Elliot Bowen, Belfast’s Adam Enders and Franklinville’s Sam Erickson. Schmidt, now a senior, scored 10 against his dad and the Bonnies in last year’s 95-54 Bona victory in the RC.
Still finding its way, Bona has looked to a different source for leadership in the early going.
“Usually it comes from the veteran guys,” Schmidt said. “Now, it’s really coming from the coaching staff. As we get along in the year, then the captains and the guys that are playing a lot will take ownership of the team.
“But right now, even with Daryl (Banks III) and Moses (Flowers), they’re still learning. It’s hard to tell someone what to do when you’re still unsure of what you’re doing. As we go forward, hopefully the guys will get a grasp and then the leadership will come from within.”
