Staff Editorial
It’s no secret campus has overflowed with Bona pride since Sunday.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams made the university prouder than ever before, but it’s not just students, faculty and alumni that are uniting as Bona Nation.
Some local residents are just as excited as us students are — and they have every reason to be. By living near the Bona Bubble, they get to participate in the thrills of many campus events, especially in the success of our basketball teams this season.
Ryan Talbot,’06, ’09, an Olean resident, has been a fan for as long as he can remember and has been attending games since the mid-1990s. The men’s Atlantic 10 championship just enhanced his love for the team.
“I was going crazy during the championship game. My wife had to go upstairs as she was trying to read and I was yelling at the television,” he said. “When the clock ran down to zero, I had goosebumps and was overcome with many different emotions. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Another Olean resident, Maureen DiCerbo, ’95, said she thought it was great both teams made it to the tournament, not to mention it meant great publicity for the school.
“My favorite thing about the Bonnies is the community support at the Reilly Center,” DiCerbo said. “The community is such a big part of Bonaventure and vice versa.”
The amount of school spirit spilling out the community, evident by the police and fire escort for the teams on their way to the tournament, couldn’t be a better thing for the community.
As much as we believe in our Bonnies, the tournament spots for both teams are still the best surprises the school’s had in recent memory. We owe it to the teams and coaches for their hard work, not to mention their exuberance of Bonnie spirit.
But the Bonnies aren’t ignoring the undeniable support from their community; they embrace it wholeheartedly, a point emphasized by men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt’s impromptu speech when the men returned from Atlantic City early Monday morning.
Bonnies fans believe in their teams more than anything, no matter how many people around the country chose our opponent in their brackets.
“I actually like their chances in the NCAA tournament,” Talbot said. “Florida State is a very good team and are coming off of their second win over Duke, and that being said, they are a low-scoring team and their game reminds me a lot of Xavier’s style of play.”
With at least one more game apiece this weekend, the men’s and women’s basketball teams are sure to have Bonnies trending nationally on Twitter by halftime. It wouldn’t be surprising to see BonaNation, BonaPride or Andrew Nicholson make the list.
No matter what happens, students, alumni, faculty and the Bonaventure community will be behind their teams 100 percent. DiCerbo also noted the teams’ undeniable skill and teamwork can’t cancel out a major reason for their success.
“The whole Bonaventure community is responsible for their success,” she said.
And for that, we thank you. Go Bonnies!
