Bonnies on pace to play fewest games since 1961-62 season

By CHUCKIE MAGGIO

Most of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball players shifted their focus from ball screens to baggage claim on Tuesday afternoon.

Their rivalry game against the University at Buffalo canceled, and the search for a replacement game proving unsuccessful, the Bonnies traveled home for Christmas earlier than planned on Tuesday. The itinerary change was another example of how difficult it’s been for Bona to get games in this season.

A handful of teams, like BYU and Saint Mary’s out west, have played 10 or more games during the non-conference portion of their season. St. Bonaventure has played two.

If SBU plays all 18 scheduled Atlantic 10 contests and the Atlantic 10 Tournament is conducted without issue, Bona is guaranteed just 21 games in 2020-21. The last time the Bonnies played that condensed a slate was 1961-62, when they officially went by the since-replaced Brown Indians nickname.

Bonaventure wasn’t limited by a pandemic in that 14-7 campaign, which followed a 24-4 NCAA Tournament run the year prior. The team simply didn’t compete as frequently in Larry Weise’s first season as head coach, starting play Dec. 2 and playing just three games in January. With no conference affiliation at the time, Bona played twice against Canisius and Niagara and welcomed teams like Villa Madonna and Bellarmine to Olean Armory.

The Bonnies sat in the 22-28-game range for the rest of the decade, but never played just 21 games again. There’s a nonzero chance, with the pandemic wielding its unpredictability on the entire country, that the current squad matches or doesn’t even reach that number.

One scheduling wrinkle the Atlantic 10 implemented to account for the likelihood of canceled and postponed games was leaving the week before the conference tournament open. If the 2-0 Bonnies are in the postseason mix (this year’s selection criteria is even more ambiguous than usual because of the schedule disparities), the conference can match them up against another quality opponent or work with them to find them a non-league game, if possible.

The Bonnies are slated to play two quality opponents on the road in the upcoming week, traveling to Rhode Island on Wednesday and Richmond on Saturday. They may not be playing as many games as they and their fans have hoped, but they won’t be meeting Villa Madonna.