By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The vitriol poured onto social media, each comment as nasty as the last.
“Embarrassing.”
“Hit a free throw bum.”
“You suck.”
“You choked.”
Many of the comments were made by jilted gamblers, of course, who felt the best method to express their anger was directing complaints directly at Kyle Lofton and his teammates. Several more, however, were made by St. Bonaventure fans, to whom Lofton’s prior accomplishments in a Bona uniform didn’t offset two missed free throws in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. It’s an expectant, “what have you done for me lately” mentality that has pervaded athletic competition ever since virtually everyone gained the access to contact virtually everyone else behind a keyboard.
The criticism, of course, was nothing new for the Bonnies this season, when a season with second-NCAA Tournament weekend promise dulled with disappointment. Jaren Holmes’s fellow students frequently booed him and called for his benching during the Feb. 8 win over Fordham, precipitating a thumbs-down showdown with the section the following home game. No one, not even the winningest coach in St. Bonaventure’s rich basketball history, has avoided the critics’ wrath; Mark Schmidt was panned for his methods, chiefly his lack of bench usage.
Instead, the Bonnies embraced the opportunity to play another day. And another, and another.
“I didn’t want to go into the NIT if our five seniors didn’t want to play,” Schmidt explained as his rationale for leaving the team’s participation in the National Invitation Tournament up to his co-captains. “They said they were all in.”
Of course they were all in. You don’t leave the court on a miss if you can help it.
Rather than ending their decorated careers with tears flowing in the Capital One Arena locker room, Bonaventure’s seniors ended it in the “Mecca” of basketball, Madison Square Garden. It wasn’t the NCAA Tournament, and Bona did not play well in the first half against a surging Xavier squad, but the team changed the perception of its season, regardless.
A disappointing year at Bonaventure this decade would be cause for celebration at A-10 competitors Duquesne and Massachusetts. Even when the team hits a rough patch, it typically finishes with vigor.
The Bonnies played deeper into the March calendar than they had in 102 seasons of basketball. They scored three road victories over power-five schools to bring their season total to 23 wins, tied for the fourth-winningest campaign in school history.
“It’s satisfying,” Schmidt acknowledged. “We started off great, and then we hit that 24-day COVID (pause) where we didn’t practice. But we talk about mental and physical toughness. Those guys came back from being off 24 days and there’s a lot of people that counted us out, but those guys didn’t read the newspaper; they blocked out the noise and they kept on playing.
“And then people criticized us for losing to Saint Louis. Those guys didn’t listen, and they just kept on fighting. They dealt with adversity; didn’t listen to all the noise, all the naysayers. They kept on fighting and we had a great year.”
Not only did Lofton write a more fitting final chapter the last two weeks, sinking the winning free throws at Virginia and setting the program’s postseason single-game assists record, but Holmes, his backcourt mate and pregame warmup partner, flipped a switch. Holmes reached the 1,000-point mark (in just three seasons) and averaged 15 points during the tournament, draining over half of his 3-point tries after making under 25 percent of them over the first 29 games.
Schmidt, who has three sons of his own but said he considers his players his “13 step-children,” beams with pride when discussing one of the most decorated classes he and his staff recruited to Bonaventure. After an uneven season, a year that not only included a COVID pause but injuries to Lofton and Osun Osunniyi, he is pleased at all the “Ironman Five” has accomplished.
“Those kids are special,” Schmidt commented. “I wouldn’t be sitting here, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to coach at Madison Square Garden, without their efforts. It’s a family. This is not a relationship that we have for four years. This is a relationship we have for a lifetime. It’s special.
“These guys have given me a lot, more than I’ve given them.”
Meaningful comments from a coach. Who could ask for more.