OLEAN, N.Y. — Keeping pace through the beginning of 2025, St. Bonaventure men's basketball team captains Melvin Council Jr. and Noelle Brown have the roster well-gelled.

"A lot of people ... really had us overlook because we had 10 new transfers," said Council Jr. "So they were really seeing how we were going to do and stuff like that. We just clicked instantly. It feels like we knew each other for like four years. So it was just the chemistry we had."

More than 50 years after their last trip to the Final Four, the Bonnies — currently 14-3, and 2-2 in Atlantic 10 Conference play — think they've got a couple of things going in their favor to return, including the small town culture of Olean.

"Bonnie's like, super special in the fact that the boarding and everything you do similar, you're going to hang out with your teammates a lot," said Brown. "You're going to get along with them, and during the summer, we had a whole bunch of workouts together."

You hear about St. Bonaventure in March regularly, be it the NCAA tourney or the NIT. The Bonnies have reached the NCAA tourney eight times in program history, the last coming in 2021. The program reached the Final Four in 1970, but has not advanced past the first round since 2012.

"Effort and defense," Brown remarked. "So they're always going to be our two staples. That's where we want to live as a team. Obviously it's great if we could always shoot like 40% from the 3-point line, but a way to honestly give yourself a good shot, a shot at a lot of games, is to play consistent defense and give consistent effort."

The rest of the season is far from "set it and forget it," and the crowds, the team says, will continue to fuel the success.

"We always want to play as hard as we can," said Brown. "We want to consistently give you effort and if you watch this, coach always wants to say that you can walk away saying 'those guys played hard.'

"We're supported by our fans, others and supporters ... we want to play hard for them because they pour so much into us."

"As I make sure my team is better and we get a W, that's all that matters at the end of the day," said Council.

Looking to stop a two-game skid, the Bonnies take to their home court Wednesday night against Richmond, then head to Pittsburgh on Saturday to tip off with Duquesne.