St. Bonaventure aims to build off tournament appearance
ALLEGANY, N.Y. (BVM) — St. Bonaventure has drawn some much deserved attention heading into the upcoming 2021-22 campaign as the program comes off one of its best seasons in team history.
Following a 16-5 season that saw the Bonnies finish first among the Atlantic 10 conference, the program will likely come back with a bigger target on its back after clocking in as the No. 23 team in the AP Preseason Poll.
“There’s high expectations, but as I told the team, the only expectations that really matter are our expectations, not the outside world,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “We understand the No. 1 pick in preseason, that’s all great, but the games are won on the court. What we did last year was terrific but last year was last year. This is a whole new year.”
High expectations for the Bonnies should be expected after returning all five seniors, which includes two preseason Atlantic 10 first team selections in senior guard Kyle Lofton and center Osun Osunniyi. Coming in as the projected favorite to win the Atlantic 10, the experienced Bonnies’ group was excellent in conference play, finishing last season with an 11-4 conference record and a A10 tournament win.
The Bonnies first-team duo was spectacular in 2020-21 as Lofton averaged 14.4 points, 3.5 rebound, and 5.5 assists, while Osunniyi dominated on the defensive end picking up the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year while averaging 10.7 points and 9.4 rebounds.
Along with its returning group, the A10 conference winners were busy in the transfer portal adding Karim Coulibaly, a transfer from the University of Pittsburgh, and Quadry Adams, a transfer from Wake Forest. Coulibaly started 20 games last year for the Panthers and averaged 5.2 points per game. The Bonnies are also hoping that two incoming freshmen, Joryam Saizonou and Justin Ndjock-Tadjore, can make an impact coming off one of the most impressive bench units that Schmidt has had.
With a talented group on hand for the upcoming season, St. Bonaventure has one thing on its mind when it comes to following up its tournament knockout in the first round against LSU.
“The one thing about last year, we didn’t play well against LSU in the tournament and I think that’s the driving force to these guys this year,” Schmidt said. “They’re motivated to try and repeat last year but it’s not easy. Winning the Atlantic 10 and winning the Atlantic 10 tournament and going to the NCAA tournament and being the No. 9 seed, that’s really, really hard. So to duplicate that would be amazing.”
The Bonnies will have their hands full early on with an opening matchup against a competitive Sienna team that was 12-5 last season. The list of non-conference matchups will gradually get harder as the group gets into December with possible ranked matchups against UConn and Virginia Tech.
The two primetime matchups for the Bonnies in December will likely be measuring stick games as the team tries to reach its goals of returning to March Madness. With a bad taste left from the NCAA tournament, St. Bonaventure is looking forward to the opportunities this season creates.
“Our guys’ goal is to get back to the NCAA tournament and try to advance,” Schmidt said. “Last year we did that and I think our guys got a taste of it. Now they want to get there again, which we know is going to be difficult. If we do get there, [the goal is to] try and advance and try and get to the second weekend and try and get to the third weekend. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
