A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist
Let’s get this straight. Nobody but the most ardent, myopic St. Bonaventure men’s basketball fan expected the Bonnies to go to Fort Myers, Florida and beat North Carolina, the country’s No. 16 team, last month.
And they didn’t.
Bona fell 85-70 to the Tar Heels, its first loss in six games.
Since then have been victories over East Carolina, 67-58 in Fort Myers and 70-65 over Florida Atlantic on its home court,in Boca Raton.
Then came a win over Bloomsburg, a Div. II school from Pennsylvania, at the Reilly Center, followed by a 77-69 decision over previously unbeaten UB at Alumni Arena and an 85-77 triumph over Colgate (6-5), last night at the RC, ending the Raiders four-game win streak.
It all translates to a 10-1 beginning to coach Mark Schmidt’s 19th season at St. Bonaventure and stirs memories of last season’s 14-1 start that took it two games into the Atlantic 10 campaign.
What makes Bona’s start so impressive is that 11 of the 13 players on the roster are new and, given the vagaries of the transfer portal, that’s a credit to Schmidt, chief recruiter Sean Neal and newly-signed general manager Adrian Wojnarowski.
Three of the newbies are averaging double figures: Darryl Simmons II (Gardner-Webb, 16 ppg.), Frank Mitchell (Humber, Canisius, Minnesota, 16 ppg,12 rebounds per game) and Cayden Charles (North Georgia, 12 ppg, 6 rpg.).
Next up for the Bonnies is Ohio U. (3-2) at Rocket Arena in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown Saturday night before the non-conference schedule ends, Dec. 20 against LeMoyne.
Bona’s Atlantic 10 opener is New Year’s Eve afternoon at Virginia Commonwealth.
“You find a lot out about a person, about a player, about a team when adversity hits,” Schmidt maintained of Bona’s rally from 13 points down in the first half against Colgate. “Some players wilt, they lay down. If you’re a competitor, you get up and fight. We gathered ourselves, we came back in the second half, and we played much better.”
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
