St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball

The St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball (formerly the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians) team is the college basketball team that represents St. Bonaventure University, located near the city of Olean, New York. The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference and plays its home games at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies are currently coached by all-time coaching wins leader Mark Schmidt, who during his 12th season surpassed former coach Larry Weise with his 203rd victory. History Beginnings Of the major sports at St. Bonaventure, basketball was the last introduced. In 1902, the first team had been put together, mainly consisting of former football players. The coach of this team was university professor Patric Driscoll. Official records of these games were not kept. Proper facilities were not available until four years later when intramural games began to be played in a handball court on campus. In 1916, Butler Gym was constructed, but wasn't finished by the time the intercollegiate team played its first game against University at Buffalo. This game was played in the Olean Armory. Games were cancelled until after World War I had ended. The first game played in Butler Gym was during the 1919-1920 season with Richard Phelan as the coach. Basketball prospered on campus in the decades between World War I and World War II. From 1942 to 1944, basketball was again put on hold for a world war. Following World War II, Anslem Kreiger, a former All-American Basketball player, took over the program, with a record of 15-10 over his two-year tenure. The Brown Indians returned to the Olean Armory after the war and remained there for the next 20 seasons. The team was noted for having won 99 consecutive home games at the Armory before that streak was broken in February 1961.