By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
They were non-competitive by almost every measure at Assembly Hall: outrebounded, outshot and outmanned.
If the St. Bonaventure Bonnies require any motivation, any fuel as they garner national and regional recognition unprecedented in this era of program history, it’s the memory of LSU. Kyle Lofton shot a humbling 3-of-18 in that NCAA Tournament first round game, tied for the third-worst field goal percentage of a player with that many attempts in a tournament game since 2011. Bona scored just eight points over the first 10 minutes and, faced with a bigger Tigers team, missed as many 3-point shots (17) as it had in a single game last season.
Lofton marked the date on his Instagram, captioning a photo of him seated on the sideline with, “3.20.21 thank U.” He’s not the first Bonnies star to flounder in March Madness (Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley combined to shoot 23.4 percent from the floor in the 2018 tournament), but he and his four starting teammates are nonetheless fueled by that failure.
“We didn’t play well against LSU in the tournament,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged, “and I think that’s the driving force to these guys this year. They’re motivated to try to repeat what we did last year, and it’s not easy. Winning the Atlantic 10 and winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament and going to the NCAA Tournament, being the No. 9 seed, that’s really, really hard. To duplicate that, that would be amazing.
“But our guys, the goal is to get back to the NCAA Tournament and try to advance, just like every team. Every coach you talk to, the ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA Tournament, and last year we did that. Our guys got a taste of it; now they want to try to get there again, which we know is gonna be difficult. But if we do get there, to try to advance and try to get to the second weekend, try to get to the third weekend.”
Jaren Holmes agreed that Bona is self-motivated but did not point to the LSU game or any individual contest they have lost. Rather, he focused on the team’s makeup and the under-recruited nature most of the roster had before enrolling at SBU.
St. Bonaventure’s starting five, the same lineup that won dual A-10 championships last March, includes Holmes, a junior college product; Lofton, whose other offers out of Putnam Science Academy came from UMass, Manhattan, Quinnipiac and Robert Morris; Jalen Adaway, who transferred from sub-.500 Mid-American Conference program Miami-Ohio; Dominick Welch, who was not heavily recruited outside of Western New York; and Osun Osunniyi, who was headed to La Salle before Putnam’s run to the 2018 prep school championship and was thought of by ACC power Syracuse as a mere rotational piece.
“Honestly, over the summer, we were going into it not expecting to be ranked, just because of the type of guys we have,” Holmes explained. “Nothing has been given to any of us, so we didn’t expect to be ranked. … We’re blessed, and it’s an honor to be ranked, but each and every game we’re gonna get everybody’s best shot. We’re gonna go out there and play basketball like we know how to do.”
“All his guys usually aren’t recruited high,” Lofton added. “We all have a chip on our shoulder. I think that means a lot to us, and we all know that. We just wanna prove ourselves.”
The methods in which they seek motivation may vary, but the Bonnies insist that the No. 23 ranking in the first Associated Press poll and a No. 1 spot in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll will not lead to any concentration lapses.
“The games are won on the court, and we understand that,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think that preseason poll is gonna make our guys play any harder or any less hard. We’re just excited to start the season and have everybody really looking forward to a great season.”
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