BUFFALO, N.Y. — If anyone isn't used to playing in front of an empty arena, it's the St. Bonaventure University basketball team.
"Not seeing them playin in the Reilly Center this year was a little bit of a disappointment," Senior Ryan Acosta told 2 On Your Side.
But even without being able to gather at games or crowd into local bars to cheer on their team, the student section is riding high off the team earning an historically-high bid as a nine seed entering the NCAA tournament. They'll take on the LSU Tigers at 1:45 pm on Saturday, March 20th from the tournament bubble in Indianapolis.
"If anything is going to happen this year that's going to bring a glimmer, almost, it's them making the tournament," Raine Pfeiffer, a senior from Machias told 2 On Your Side.
"It's been a really difficult school year, a lot of things are different, but just having the team play two times a week and looking forward to the games like we always do and still being able to cheer them on and having it be such an exciting year, it's just really awesome to see," said Junior Dom Grecco of Kenmore, also known as "Captain Beer" on campus.
Honoring the legacy of Dr. Dennis DePerro
It's a bittersweet time for the students, and not just because they haven't been able to go to the home games in person. Also, because someone important to everyone on campus won't be there to see the team play in this year's March Madness games. University President Dr. Dennis DePerro passed away due to complications from Covid-19 earlier this month.
"It was like just really heartbreaking and kind of unexpected," Pfeiffer said. "I think us going this far in basketball is like really special especially this year because it was so soon. I know he would be so proud of all of us."
"You would see Dr. DePerro in the dining hall, eating every day, lunch with the students," Grecco said. "He was just a special man and like everyone loved him here. He was just different kind of the president that fit Bonaventure perfectly."
#BonniesDance
Some student fans made the trip to Dayton, Ohio last week, to see the team clinch the A10 Championship in person.
"Only 3,500 fans, and it sounded like there was fifteen thousand there," Acosta said. "It was incredible."
"Just the fact that they're back in the NCAA Tournament, there was just so much buzz on Sunday afternoon," Senior Sports Media Major and Co-Sports Director for SBU-TV, Tommy Valentine, said. "I remember going on everybody's Snapchat stories and they're all taking videos of Selection Sunday."
"It does feel like a family here and you feel as soon as you walk onto this campus that there's something special about this environment," his Co-Sports Director, Grace Foley said.
"When you go to a school with 2,000 kids, you know some of the basketball players. It's a place like nowhere else in the country," Acosta said.