t. Bonaventure and Massachusetts spent the first six weeks of the season heading in opposite directions. They still are. But when the teams meet today in the Reilly Center (2; Empire, Radio 1300, 95.7 FM), their roles will be reversed.

UMass (4-9) is riding a wave of confidence, with a 2-0 Atlantic 10 record that's easing the chaos caused by a 2-9 non-conference mark. A four-game losing streak makes Bona (8-5) the struggling squad. A loss today could make it the A-10's first 0-3 team.

UMass remains one of the marquee names on the Bona schedule, even if it isn't nearly the program that former coach John Calipari built in the mid-'90s. Tickets for this one have been gone since Dec. 29.

The crowd of 6,000 will see a UMass squad that has started to find a personality.

Trailing by 12 points at halftime Saturday against George Washington, the Minutemen used a 51-23 second-half explosion to post a 76-60 win. The real shocker came Tuesday, when UMass cruised to a 75-62 win at Xavier.

"I've always felt this team could win," junior forward Ronell Blizzard said this week. "When you stop feeling that way, the season is over, and nobody thinks this season is over."

Adversity has followed UMass coach Bruiser Flint for most of his four years at the helm even though he's 43-23 in A-10 games. His critics point out a shoddy postseason record: two first-round NCAA Tournament defeats and last year's first-round NIT loss at Siena.

Flint's job, in fact, was saved only after lengthy meetings with school officials after last season, when UMass was 17-16. Most observers peg this as an NCAA-or-bust season for him.

"I don't talk about it. I just try to get my team to play better," Flint said this week by phone. "I'm not worried about that, I'm really not. I know what I have to do. If I don't do it, I know what will happen. I don't let it distract me.

"This is like a second season. We didn't play well in the first. Now we have to focus on winning the Atlantic 10."

Why has UMass struggled? There are plenty of reasons, starting with the spotty play of point guard Shannon Crooks, the 31-percent shooting of star guard Monty Mack, who averages 18.8 points, and the constant foul trouble among its interior players.

Another reason has been a brutal schedule that's included losses to North Carolina, Connecticut, Providence, Richmond, Marquette and Oregon.

Things came to a head at halftime against George Washington. Flint went to his bench as Crooks, 6-11 Micah Brand and small forward Winston Smith sat for much of the second half.

Blizzard, guards Jonathan DePina and Jameel Pugh and 6-8 Syracuse transfer Eric Williams all saw meaningful minutes.

"When you're 2-9 and not focused and ready to play, how can you do that?" Flint said. "It was like, "We won without you and we won because they (the reserves) played with more energy.' "

UMass then blasted Xavier on the boards as a 43-26 rebounding advantage keyed a surprisingly easy road win.

"Their size is unnerving," Xavier coach Skip Prosser said, referring to Brand and 6-10 center Kitwana Rhymer.

The Bonnies' struggling frontcourt will have big matchup problems today with Brand and Rhymer. The offense, meanwhile, has hit just 35 percent from the field the last four games after connecting on 48.7 percent over the first nine.

Freshman point guard Marques Green is expected to stay in the starting lineup for the second straight game. He had a season-high 10 assists but also made seven turnovers in Tuesday's 76-67 loss at Fordham.

UMass leads the all-time series, 28-13, but the Bonnies have won four of the last five meetings.

T. BONAVENTURE � Call it the Peter Pan method of game preparation.

In the middle of a four-game losing streak, its longest in two years, the St. Bonaventure men�s basketball team is thinking good thoughts, happy thoughts.

�We�re upbeat,� said forward Vidal Massiah. �We�re trying to stay positive and keep the negativity out. Sometimes it�s hard when your losing, but we�ve got to get this game (today.)�

The game he�s referring to is Bona�s Atlantic 10 clash against Massachusetts at a sold-out Reilly Center this afternoon (2 p.m., Empire-TV/WPIG-FM/www.wpig.com).

While it�s still early in the season, today�s game is critical for the Bonnies (8-5, 0-2). Bona needs a win to break its four-game skid and avoid falling three games out of first place in the conference.

�I think we have to try to take things piece-by-piece,� said Bona coach Jim Baron. �A big thing is we need to get back to rebounding the basketball, executing on the offensive end and playing for 40 minutes.�

Today�s game is Bona�s first home game of 2001 and first after a tough three-game, nine-day road trip in which they lost at St. Louis, Temple and Fordham.

But returning to the Reilly Center has allowed Bona to recapture some of its mojo � and its swagger.

�It�s good to be back home,� said guard J. R. Bremer. �It can be hard on the road, but nobody comes into our house and wins. It�s real big to be home, be behind our fans, our friends and our family. We�ll be back on track once we get a win (today).�

In an attempt to snap his team out of its January doldrums, Baron will shake up the starting lineup. Sophomore Patricio Prato, who came off the bench against Fordham on Tuesday, will start in place of freshman Marques Green.

Green has played well this season and had a career-high 10 assists against the Rams. But he also committed seven turnovers in that game.

Also, Prato�s nine inches taller (6-foot-4 to 5-foot-7), which gives Bona another rebounding threat.

�We�ve got to handle the ball and get back to rebounding,� Baron said. �(Prato) gives us more experience, and that�s what we need. But I don�t get caught up in starting. We�re going need eight-to-10 guys out there.�

Rebounding and defense will be the key for the Bonnies this afternoon. In each of their five losses this season, Bona has been outrebounded. Fordham also victimized the Bonnies for several fast-break baskets in its 76-67 win on Thursday.

To a player, the Bonnies said that rebounding and team defense would be the key today.

�Defense wins ball games,� Bremer said. �The first eight or nine games, we played excellent defense, but in the last few games we got a little lazy. We understand how important defense is. The offense will come, but to win, we�ve got to rebound the basketball.�

Hampering Bona�s efforts have been center Peter Van Paassen�s nagging injuries.

He has tendinitis in his left ankle and an injured right knee, but he denied broadcast reports that he�s been playing with a stress fracture in his foot.

The 6-11 center has always played well against the Minutemen. Last season, he recorded career highs in points (25) and rebounds (15) in Bona�s 86-69 win at the RC.

�When I was recruited to play here, UMass was one of the elite teams in the country,� Van Paassen said. �That was one of the selling points for the coaches. They�re still a good team, so I�m always hyped up to play them.�

Van Paassen had 17 points against Fordham and will once again be a key to Bona�s offense.

�That�s a big part of our game plan every game,� Baron said. �They�ve got good big guys. They�ve got a good nucleus.�

Massiah said, �We�re going to go to Peter a lot. He�s our go-to guy, and we�re going to feed him the ball and get him touches.�

Massiah and fellow forwards Robert Cheeks and Quadir Habeeb will play a big role in today�s game, trying to stop UMass� front line of 6-foot-10 Kitwana Rhymer and 6-foot-11 Micah Brand.

But the Minutemen�s offense still revolves around Monty Mack. The preseason first team All A-10 selection has struggled this year, averaging 18 points a game but only shooting 32 percent from the floor and 29 percent from three-point land.

�Monty Mack�s one of the best scorers in the country,� Baron said.

�We�ve done a good job against him the past. But it�s not just him, he�s going to get his 20 points, we�ve got to be concerned with their whole team.�

UMass had an abysmal start to the season, going 2-9 in its first 11 games. But the Minutemen have won two games in a row, including an impressive 75-64 win at Xavier on Tuesday.

But neither UMass� season nor the reasons behind their losing streak interest the Bonnies.

All that matters to them is today�s game.

�You could say it was the layoff, you could say it was guys losing focus, but right now, instead of looking for causes, we need to look for solutions,� Van Paassen said. �We have to get back to how we were playing and leave the past behind us.�

Because today�s game is a sellout, and Bona students are moving back to campus for the spring semester, school officials urge fans to car pool to the game.

LEAN, N.Y. � For as long as Bruiser Flint has been the men's basketball coach at the University of Massachusetts, Winston Smith has been there, too, trying to do the little things to help his team win.

Until recently, those contributions have rarely involved big numbers, which are still not the essence of his game. Today at the Reilly Center, Smith's main task will be to defend St. Bonaventure forward Kevin Houston, and how he does will have much to say about the outcome of the 2 o'clock Atlantic 10 Conference game.

"I don't much about him," Smith said of Houston, a 6-foot-4 senior transfer averaging 18.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. "I like to know what a guy I'm facing likes to do or not do, so I've been looking at tapes of him."

The 6-5 Smith has lately been a rebounding force. On Dec. 30, he grabbed 14 boards against Richmond � doubling his career high � and he had 11 in Tuesday's 75-64 win at Xavier.

The senior forward has helped UMass (4-9, 2-0 Atlantic 10 Conference) put together its first two-game winning streak of the season. Smith laughs when asked to explain the sudden big numbers.

"I'm just crashing the boards at each end, doing the little things for this team," he said. "That's been the story my whole time here."

When Flint coached his first game in 1996, Smith was a freshman starting forward. After tearing his anterior cruciate ligament three games into his sophomore season, Smith was granted a medical redshirt for the year.

Because his brief sophomore experience didn't count as a full year, he's appeared in five different seasons, the only UMass player to play in each of Flint's first five years.

His rebounding and defense should be important against St. Bonaventure (8-5, 0-2), which has lost four straight, and has been outrebounded in all four games. With 6-11 senior center Peter Van Paassen playing despite tendinitis in his right ankle, the Bonnies are vulnerable on the boards against UMass, which outrebounded Xavier 43-26 Tuesday.

"The matchups are different this year," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said. "Last year, we couldn't guard either of their big guys, Van Paassen or Caswell Cyrus. But they have more guys on the perimeter, and Houston can really score."

Houston sat out as a transfer last year, when seniors Cyrus and guards Tim Winn and David Messiah Capers formed the heart of the Bonnies' first NCAA tournament team in 22 years. They swept two games from UMass, and owned a 50-34 rebounding edge in a 17-point win at the Reilly Center.

"Without Cyrus any more, Van Paassen is getting double teamed a lot more," Flint said. The Bonnies are using two 6-6 juniors, Vidal Massiah and Robert Cheeks, at power forward.

It's similar to what UMass did with Chris Kirkland last year, and it's not ideal for rebounding against bigger frontcourts.

St. Bonaventure will probably rely on 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone defense against UMass, whose only real zone-breaking threat, Monty Mack, has scored 54 points in the two victories. If he's on target today, the Bonnies may have to soften up their already vulnerable interior to go out and cover him.

LEAN, N.Y. - With three of the key pieces of last year's NCAA Tournament team - point guard Tim Winn, center Caswell Cyrus and small forward David Messiah Capers - out of eligibility, most St. Bonaventure fans figured 2000-01 would be a rebuilding year in Bonnie Nation.

But when the Mustard and Brown sprinted out of the gate to an 8-1 record that included wins over Fresno State and Charlotte, western New York understandably got excited.

Since then St. Bonaventure has gotten a dose of reality. Four straight losses to Canisius, Saint Louis, Temple, and Fordham have quickly turned an 8-1 record to 8-5.

While the Bonnies will be trying to end a streak, their opponent at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Reilly Center, the University of Massachusetts, will be trying to continue one. Coming off back-to-back wins over George Washington and Xavier, the Minutemen (4-9, 2-0 A-10) are confident entering the game.

"Right now we're jelling as a group and playing good basketball," senior captain Winston Smith. "If we keep doing it, we have a good chance at winning the Atlantic 10."

The Reilly Center hasn't been UMass coach Bruiser Flint's favorite place of late. His Minutemen are 0-3 in their last three trips to the building, which boasts the Atlantic 10's rowdiest fans.

St. Bonaventure is opening up its dormitories a day early from holiday break, so students can come to the game and ensure a clamorous environment.

Senior Kevin Houston, a transfer from Miami (Fla.), has helped pick up some of the scoring load, leading the Bonnies with 18.4 points per game while taking over for Capers at small forward.

"He scores it," Flint said of Houston. "He's not afraid to put it up. He's pretty good. He's leading the league in scoring, if I'm not mistaken."

Flint, in fact, is mistaken, but Houston's scoring average is good for seventh in the league.

Coach Jim Baron has experimented at the point guard slot using junior J.R. Bremer and freshman Marques Green in that role. Currently Green is playing the point, with Bremer sliding over to shooting guard where he's averaged 13.3 points per game.

Green has become the third in a recent tradition of diminutive points guards in the Atlantic 10's most remote locale. Green is listed at 5-7, 150 pounds, but many locals would swear that measurement came with Green standing on top of the yellow pages.

Whatever his height, Green has the quickness to make up for it. He leads St. Bonaventure with 57 assists.

With Cyrus gone, however, Bona has recently looked vulnerable in the paint against the sizable frontlines of Temple and Fordham. Peter Van Paassen has played well at center, averaging 15.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, but he misses Cyrus' contributions alongside him.

"Peter gets double-teamed a lot more," Flint said. "Not only that, they rebound different. One of the things that killed us last year was even when we double-teamed and they missed, the other guy was on the other side to get the rebound. When you have two big guys like that, it makes a huge difference. They just handled us on the boards last year."

UMass will try to turn the tables; the Minutemen feature five players - Kitwana Rhymer, Micah Brand, Eric Williams, Jackie Rogers and Ronell Blizzard - who stand 6-8 or taller.