This preview is part of the Atlantic 10's 2020-21 Men's Basketball Tipoff, which also includes A-10 media day, the preseason poll and awards and the 2020-21 schedule. The previews, written by Patrick Stevens, began on Nov. 10 and will continue through the week. Once released, each preview can be found here.
ST. BONAVENTURE ESSENTIALS
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Get used to the team St. Bonaventure fields this winter. There’s a good chance it will look extremely similar a year from now.
The Bonnies don’t have a senior on the roster, meaning a core group that already is good enough to be picked fourth in the Atlantic 10 could be around for multiple seasons.
Not that the no-seniors approach was by design.
“We had some junior college guys,” coach Mark Schmidt said. “Anthony Roberts came in as a transfer. We’re happy with what we have. We have a veteran team with some young guys.”
That last part is the key. All five of last season’s starters are back in the fold, including established juniors Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi and Dominick Welch. Jaren Holmes (who legally changed his name from Jaren English since last season) ranked second on the Bonnies in scoring in his first season with the program last year. Sophomore forward Justin Winston was a starting lineup mainstay last year.
In other words, St. Bonaventure isn’t remotely young, even as it lacks options on the cusp of concluding their college careers.
“The last two years, Kyle’s probably played the most minutes of any player in the country [Lofton was second behind Saint Mary’s Jordan Ford],” Schmidt said. “Osun’s started as a freshman. Dom’s started as a freshman. We have juniors, but in essence, they’re like fifth-year seniors. They’ve played a lot of minutes. … We might be young in terms of not having any seniors, but in terms of minutes, we have veteran guys.”
A LOOK AT THE BONNIES:
Coach: Mark Schmidt, 14th season at St. Bonaventure, 229-180 with the Bonnies and 311-270 overall in 19 seasons
Last year: The Bonnies wound up on the cusp of the fourth 20-win season in five years, finishing 19-12 overall when the pandemic cut the season short. They went 11-7 in the Atlantic 10, tying Duquesne for fifth in the standings.
They’ll miss: None of their top six scorers, all of whom return. Part-time starter Amadi Ikpeze (3.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg) graduated, and reserve Bobby Planutis (5.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg) opted to transfer.
Impact returners: It already feels like Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi and Dominick Welch have anchored the Bonnies for more than two seasons. Lofton was a first team all-Atlantic 10 pick last season when he averaged 14.1 points and led the league in both assists (6.0 per game) and minutes (38.4 a night). He needs just three assists to crack the top 10 of St. Bonaventure’s career list.
Osunniyi might be as good a rim protector as Schmidt’s had during his time in Olean. The junior already ranks fifth in school history in blocked shots with 151, and the only other Bonnie in the last 20 years to average two blocks a game for his career was Andrew Nicholson, the A-10’s player of the year in 2012.
Then there’s Welch, who made a team-best 72 three-pointers last season, tied for fourth among healthy returnees in the conference this season.
Newbies of note: The Bonnies have former Mid-American Conference guards Jalen Adaway (who averaged 8.0 points at Miami of Ohio two seasons ago) and Anthony Roberts (a 12.7 points-a-night scorer at Kent State last year).
“I definitely feel like we’re much deeper now,” Lofton said. “I think bringing these guys is going to help us.”
Added Schmidt: “They’ve had success. They’ve shown they can do it at that level and I don’t think there’s going to be any drop-off in the Atlantic 10. They’re both athletic kids and kids that can put the ball in the basket. They’re going to be big parts of this team.”
Reasons to be optimistic: Let’s start with the historical. St. Bonaventure has won at least 10 conference games in each of the last six seasons. In its first 35 seasons in the Atlantic 10, it hit that number just four times.
So Schmidt has had things cooking for a while, and Lofton and Osunniyi are among the most tested inside-out combinations in the league. But there’s also a bit more depth than the Bonnies have typically enjoyed, and that should prove valuable as the year rolls along.
X factor: Jaren Holmes averaged 11.9 points and 4.8 rebounds in 24 games last season, and he was especially sharp over the Bonnies’ final five games (14.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg). Throughout his first year in the program, he distinguished himself with solid overall shooting (45.3 percent) and work from the perimeter that could be defined as both efficient (40 percent) and prudent (just 60 three-pointers attempted).
That’s a good place to start, and Holmes shouldn’t be forgotten about even in a backcourt with mainstays like Lofton and Welch and newcomers such as Adaway and Roberts in the fold.
Circle the date: St. Bonaventure will get its schedule underway later than hoped after pausing team activities on Nov. 19. But the Bonnies still have a couple interesting nonconference games to look toward: Dec. 15 against Akron in Cleveland, and Dec. 22 at home against western New York rival Buffalo.
Bottom line: You know what you’re going to get with the Bonnies, from Lofton’s smooth play at the point to Osunniyi’s capable presence in the post. St. Bonaventure may not have the most answers in the Atlantic 10, but it has more than most. The Bonnies should contend for a top-four finish and could, with a few breaks, make a serious push for the regular season title.
Patrick Stevens is a veteran freelance college basketball writer. A former sports reporter for the Washington Times, he has been a contributor to Atlantic10.com for the past seven years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.