Five of a Kind

The Bonnies went all in with a stellar starting lineup and provided a beacon of hope in a sobering year

By Scott Eddy

It was a scene from a modern-day “Hoosiers.” Here, as confetti fell over University of Dayton Arena in the moments following the Atlantic 10 Championship Game, Bonnies players were presented the chance to make celebratory “snow angels” on the floor as legions of Bona fans celebrated near and far.

Alejandro Vasquez makes “snow angels” in the confetti on the court at Dayton Arena following Bona’s championship win.

The moment was an achieved goal of redemption that began the last time confetti rained at an Atlantic 10 basketball championship, a day that saw another team dancing during its shining moment as Bona’s bid for a last-second game-winner rimmed out. On that day two years earlier, Saint Louis celebrated at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

This was an unfinished dream delayed a year prior when the conference tournament came to an unceremonious end as sports screeched to a halt amid a world under pandemic siege.

A season of dreams fulfilled, orchestrated by an “ironman” group of five players functioning as one terrific unit: juniors Jalen Adaway, Kyle Lofton, Jaren Holmes, Dominick Welch, and Osun Osunniyi, the program’s first A-10 Defensive Player of the Year and second Tournament MVP. It was a group that had taken St. Bonaventure to the Hoosier State and a return to the sport’s biggest stage of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.

“A lot of times you don’t get a second chance in life,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said afterward. “But those guys got a second chance and they finished.”

It was one of the few days where ever-present reminders of the pandemic were not at front of mind. Instead, this day, with players surrounded by fans for the first time all year, served as a reminder of the program’s glory years and how this team had written its own spot in Bona basketball lore as the only squad in university history to capture the Atlantic 10 regular season and postseason tournament championships in the same year.

On this day for celebration, though, came another reminder of the struggles the previous 12 months had brought – the absence of those lost in the year since the world changed. As Bonnies players and coaches cut down the nets, each wearing a patch and ribbons honoring the memory of university President Dr. Dennis DePerro, Schmidt saved a special piece of nylon.

Mark Schmidt holds the net for cheering Bonaventure fans. The team would send part of the nets to President DePerro’s family.

“That net,” Schmidt said with a meaningful glance, remembering not only a boss, but a friend, “that’s for him; that’s for his family. He was a big part of our program and I know he’s looking over us. It’s bittersweet.”

“WE DIDN’T KNOW if there was going to be a season,” Adaway recalled before returning to his native Indiana for the NCAAs. “To accomplish what we did is a blessing.”

Indeed, there were times this year seemed as though it might end before it ever began.

Perhaps no team in America was as impacted by pandemic-related schedule madness as were the Bonnies.

A season already clouded by uncertainty became even more tenuous when plans for the season-opening “Bubbleville” tournament were tossed aside following the start of a team battle with the virus that led to a three-week shutdown. As basketball season began around the country, the majority of Bona’s players and staff worked their way back to full health as cases rose throughout the region.

“We didn’t practice with a full group for 21 days. When guys would come back, we didn’t know how hard to push them. We talked with the training staff, the doctors, and no one really gave us a concrete answer. We were walking on eggshells for a while,” Schmidt said.

Then, after finally becoming one of the last teams in the nation to tip off with the program’s latest season-opener since 1975, the rug was pulled out from under the Bonnies again during pre-game warmups for the scheduled home-opener due to a positive test within that day’s opponent, Saint Francis (Pa.).

Continued schedule alterations left the Bonnies with just two non-conference games and only three contests during the conference slate that were played against the original opponent, at the planned time.

“We started to wonder, is this season even going to really happen?” St. Bonaventure director of basketball operations Matt Pappano remembers. “We didn’t know if it was possible to pull off. You just felt bad for the players because they weren’t getting a chance to play; early on they were watching other teams play on TV while we were on pause. Then it was a very regimented process to make sure we were getting back to play safely.”

Once players finally cleared safety protocols to return, each day brought a unique challenge.

IN A BUSINESS WHERE ROUTINE USUALLY PREVAILS, there would be no such thing during the 2020-21 season.

Every game, and particularly every road trip, brought its own obstacles. On one trip, the team was not allowed to eat together. Instead, players’ meals were delivered to their individual rooms. How and when the team was able to access locker rooms on the road varied trip to trip. Some trips necessitated creative travel schedules with the team spending less than 24 hours out of state to avoid quarantines.

Travel arrangements typically made months or even years in advance were now being made on perhaps 48 hours’ notice.

Pappano was tasked with working with hotels, charter flight and bus companies, local public health officials and counterparts at opposing schools to make sure the team’s travel plans and COVID protocols were all in order in a cycle that repeated itself two or three times per week.

“We were getting 20 to 30 people tested multiple times per week; players, coaches, managers, support staff,” Pappano said. “Our sports medicine staff was incredible handling it all. For some opponents we had to test every day. When we played Hofstra, the Colonial (Athletic Association) had a rule we had to test every day for two weeks leading up to the game. Leading up to the NCAA Tournament we were tested every day for over three weeks.”

A cloud of unease hung over each game following every round of testing, both for the Bonnies and opposing teams, as schedule changes mounted.

“It was nerve-wracking every time (Assistant Athletic Trainer) Josh Wall’s number popped up on my phone,” Pappano said. “We were confident in our guys doing the right things, but there is only so much you can control.”

And the reminders of everything out of their control remained prevalent.

Following their own shutdown and return to competition came the challenge of never knowing for sure if a game would happen or if an opponent would suddenly change as the conference swapped matchups each week as more teams went on pause. The last-minute Saint Francis cancellation proved that no contest was set in stone until the ball went in the air.

“When we were getting ready for Davidson the first time, we watched tape and came out for practice only to be told we weren’t playing Davidson,” Schmidt remembered of one January situation that played out multiple times during the year. “Then it was OK, who are we playing? And we didn’t know. So we practiced Wednesday not knowing who we would play Saturday. It was uncharted waters for everyone.”

Luckily for Schmidt, this veteran-laden group of Bonnies proved able to pivot on a moment’s notice – perhaps its most valuable trait in an unprecedented campaign. A team that relied on its starting five more than any other in the nation, Bona had zero freshmen and only one sophomore who contributed bench minutes, guard Alejandro Vasquez.

“I can’t imagine coaching a young team and going through this,” Schmidt, the two-time and 2021 A-10 Coach of the Year, emphasized. “When pauses happened, it was like a punch to the gut. We would get a rhythm going and then another cancellation hit. Because of the quarantines, we were trying to get into game shape during games. But, our veteran guys know what it takes to prepare and be successful. We just had to look at the positive of knowing we would have a chance to play.”

Osun Osunniyi celebrates with the Atlantic 10 Tournament trophy as confetti falls at University of Dayton Arena.

THROUGH IT ALL, BONA’S ENERGY NEVER WAVERED.

Despite playing in empty arenas throughout the season, this was a team that created its own energy, a unit able to use the five players on the floor to replicate the vigor brought by 5,000 screaming fans.

It showed in the much-delayed home-opener as Hofstra fought back from a 30-7 deficit to lead in the second half before Bona counterpunched and pulled away late. And again, as a Lofton three-pointer beat the buzzer in a win at Richmond. It was never more apparent than a rousing 45-14 second-half comeback over VCU in January, a half Schmidt labeled as the best in his SBU tenure.

“The first game we played, it was eerie,” Schmidt said. “You could hear everything echo. There wasn’t any excitement. It wasn’t any fun. But as we went on, we became accustomed to it. Our guys were able to adjust to it and look at it from a competitive standpoint of just competing 5-on-5.”

Through it all, memorable moments stacked while fans watched from home.

There was Holmes’ remarkable 38-point effort in a win over Saint Joseph’s, and a seven-game winning streak that earned the team national Top 25 votes. As NCAA “bubble” talk mounted, the Bonnies submitted their capstone, beginning with a hastily compiled season-ending stretch of four games in nine days that saw them go 3-1 with a home-and-home sweep of Davidson and an 88-41 win over George Washington, the largest margin of victory in a conference play in SBU history. The only setback came vs. Dayton on a solemn night March 1 at the RC just hours after the campus community learned of Dr. DePerro’s passing earlier that day.

After dedicating the remainder of the year to Dr. DePerro and his family, the Bonnies made sure there would be no anxious moments on Selection Sunday with a rout of Duquesne and retribution against Saint Louis in the A-10 Tournament.

Then, the sweetest of moments, a championship victory over VCU to punch their ticket to the Big Dance, with Lofton’s 23-point effort serving as the chef’s kiss on the season.

After CBS play-by-play man Ian Eagle declared Bona’s the “kings of the Atlantic 10,” it was off to Indiana and the NCAA Tournament Indianapolis bubble. While SBU’s run came to a close with a first-round setback vs. an arguably underseeded LSU squad, the team returned to campus with the Atlantic 10 championship trophies, lasting memories of an unforgettable year.

Kyle Lofton gives his chef’s kiss to Bonnies fans following a late-game three-pointer in the A-10 Championship win over VCU.

“This team is magical,” Holmes said after the NCAA Tournament game. “This season is something I’ll be able to tell my children about, talk about forever, honestly. It’s just a blessing to be here. To make it with these guys and the year we had, I know for a fact that everybody back in Olean is proud of us. I know Dr. DePerro is looking down on us, and he’s super proud.”

Pappano added: “The way it ended validated everything we did. Everything we went through to make this year happen made it that much more rewarding. We went through it with guys you really loved and cared about.”

For all the success he’s had in becoming the winningest coach in Bonnies history, Schmidt said this season — this team, specifically — will always be special.

“This group will go down in history,” he said. “What they went through during the pandemic, this is a special group and I will always hold them close to my heart. They endured a lot of things this year and they never backed down. It was a struggle, mentally and physically, but this is what you dream of as a little kid, to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament. These are the memories that last a lifetime.”

(Scott Eddy is Assistant Athletic Director for Athletics Communications at St. Bonaventure.)