By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Assignment Editor
Some rely on the talent they are born with to take them where they want to go in life. Junior guard Danny Farrell does not.
“I don’t know if I’m above-average talent,” junior guard Danny Farrell said. “I just try to work hard to get the best of my abilities every day.”
The Binghamton native began playing basketball in third grade when he joined his local church league. He continued playing through high school, but didn’t originally consider playing in college. Eventually, Farrell chose to attend St. Bonaventure. While basketball was not originally a factor in his decision, he was eventually drawn to the program, he said.
“After high school, I got a few offers to play for Division III schools,” Farrell said. “But I didn’t really like any of those schools so I didn’t think I was going to play basketball in college. But when I got to St. Bonaventure I wanted to somehow get affiliated with the team, so I started off as a manager.”
Farrell helped manage the team his freshman year. Before his sophomore year, Farrell was advised to try out for the team as a walk-on.
“While I was a manager, one of the coaches mentioned something about trying out as a walk-on,” Farrell said. “So I tried out and made the team and it just went from there.”
Although he said he has enjoyed being a member of a Division I basketball team, Farrell admitted it has been a lot more work than he originally expected. The junior guard said he has relished the opportunity to get to know his teammates better and improve as a basketball player.
“I felt like being a walk-on would be a great opportunity for me and it’s really paid off so far,” Farrell said. “It’s taken a lot of hard work; I stayed up here for the summer this year and the summer before. I put a lot of hours in the gym and got to know the guys a lot better. That made the transition from manager to player a whole lot easier.”
Although he didn’t receive much playing time last year, he points to the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship as the culmination of his and his team’s work.
“We put in a ton of work over the summer, but it paid off in the end when we won,” Farrell said. “It was probably one of the top two experiences in my life, it was unbelievable. The whole four-day span in Atlantic City was one of the best times of my life.”
While many may have had lower expectations for this year’s team, Farrell said the team’s goal has remained the same: to repeat as A-10 champions. He believes the team can be successful again this year by drawing on experience gained on last year’s championship run.
“Last year we struggled early, but you don’t want to play your best ball early in the season,” Farrell said. “At some point it just clicked for us, and the last eight to 10 games we were playing the best we’d played all season. As a team, it taught us to play each day, each game and each practice as hard as we can.”
The Bonnies are 3-5 so far in A-10 play. They’re in 13th place but they’re only three games behind first place. The Brown and White have already taken on VCU, Xavier, St. Joe’s, Temple, Saint Louis and Butler, but Farrell rejects the notion that the harder part of the team’s schedule is out of the way.
“The A-10 is a really tough league,” Farrell said. “Each game is a tough game regardless of what the standings say. It’s very hard to win road games so you want to try to win all your home games and then steal some on the road.”
Despite the competitiveness of conference play, Farrell believes the Bonnies have the ability to repeat last year as long as they’re mindful of one of Coach Mark Schmidt’s most-often-used mantras.
“To repeat as A-10 champions, I think we’ll have to do the trifecta,” Farrell said. “Like Schmidt always says, you have to rebound, take care of the ball and defend. If we do all three of those, we’ll be in good shape.”
