The reception to even just the mention of their names might well be mixed.
That’s because, at this point, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball fan base seems to be evenly split on how it views its previously celebrated starting five, with the exception of Jalen Adaway.
Half of those fans seem to be accepting of the fact that those guys played their four years and gave everything they had to Bona in that time. They laud them for leading Bona to a dual Atlantic 10 conference championship and a trip to both the NCAA Tournament and NIT Final Four and don’t blame them for taking the opportunity to make more money and play at a higher level. And they know: If COVID-19 had never happened, they would never have been part of this year’s roster anyway.
But there’s also the faction of fans that don’t understand why last year’s seniors wouldn’t have chosen to run it back this year, to be the A-10 favorites, the big dogs, for another year, to do what the Richmond seniors did and come back and achieve their goal of winning an NCAA game. They won’t forgive them for allegedly backing out of their agreement to return at the last minute, leaving Bona not only scrambling to fill its roster for this winter, but behind on the recruiting trail.
That group of fans has made it clear: They’re not wishing ill upon that quartet, but they’re also not cheering for them at their new programs either. But like it or not, they are at other programs — or in Adaway’s case, the NBA G-League — and, for the most part, they’re faring pretty well.
LET’S START with the guy that almost every fan still supports unconditionally: Adaway, who had made it known to the Bona coaching staff early last season of his intentions to turn pro and not spend a sixth year at the collegiate level.
The 6-foot-5 guard has gotten off to a solid start professionally, already establishing himself as one of the top players on the Austin Spurs, the minor league affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs. Adaway has played in 14 of 15 games with a handful of starts, averaging 13.3 points (fourth-most on his team) on 46 percent shooting, 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.3 minutes per contest. Perhaps his best game came in his pro debut, when he totaled 20 points and four rebounds in a loss to Texas at the H-E-B Center, where Bona once won two of three games in the Lonestar Showcase in 2016.
Adaway, unsurprisingly, has had a couple of high-flying dunks go viral on social media. And with the typically successful parent Spurs still in full rebuild mode (now tied for the fourth-worst record in the league), it seems conceivable that the 2022 A-10 First Team selection could receive an audition, however brief, later in the year.
THEN THERE’S Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi, who are playing together at Iowa State.
The former Bona duo has helped the Cyclones to an 8-2 record, which included a 5-0 start and a big win over then-No. 1 North Carolina. On the heels of that victory, ISU cracked the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 23, then vaulted to as high as No. 20, but a loss to Iowa last Thursday has the Cyclones back on the outside looking in.
For their part, Holmes and Shoon aren’t just guys on the roster, but two of Iowa State’s top players. Holmes has had a terrific fifth year, leading the Cyclones in scoring (14.2 points) while also adding 3.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals and shooting 39 percent from 3-point range in 30 minutes a night. He had 23 points in his Big 12 debut, 12 in a victory over Villanova and 22 in the triumph over North Carolina.
In that way, it was a continuation of the red-hot run he had in last year’s NIT; but, fair or not, it’s enough to make you wonder where the Bonnies might have ended up if he’d had this kind of season in 2021-22 rather than the struggles that plagued him before turning it on in the postseason.
Osunniyi, the two-time defending A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, has also been a regular starter, though platooning at 16.7 minutes a night, averaging 8.8 points and 3.1 rebounds, though just a half-block per game, with a season-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting against Villanova.
KYLE LOFTON, meanwhile, is now the starting point guard at Florida, in the SEC.
The 6-foot-3 guard is averaging 8.1 points and a team-best 3.1 assists while getting the most minutes on the team at 29.6 per night. He recently missed two games with an injury, then came off the bench in his return last Wednesday against UConn.
Lofton has scored in double figures twice, highlighted by a 17-point outing against West Virginia, and still isn’t the greatest perimeter threat, shooting just 28 percent from 3-point range. The Gators, however, are struggling a bit, currently sitting 6-4 and coming off a 29-point loss to the Mountaineers and a 20-point setback to UConn.
The fourth senior to leave the Bona program, Dominick Welch, is now at Alabama, but has yet to suit up this season due to a lower body injury.
When he returns, which by all accounts appears to be any day, the 6-foot-4 guard will be joining one of the best teams in the country, as the Crimson Tide, now 8-1, has vaulted to No. 4 in the AP Top 25 with wins over two No. 1s in North Carolina and, most recently, Houston on Saturday night. Upon his return, it will be interesting to see how Welch fits in among a team with that much talent. Alabama is scheduled to meet Lofton’s Gators on Feb. 8.
