by Patrick Stevens
 
A place on a Division I roster wasn’t really what new St. Bonaventure center Benjamin Bill was thinking about as he wrapped up his high school career.
 
At the time, even Division II seemed like a stretch. To that point, the 6-foot-10 Bill was basically playing because he was big.
 
“In high school, I really wasn’t that guy,” Bill said. “I was overweight. I was like 300 pounds and I really didn’t have a work ethic like that. I got hurt my senior year and then it really changed. It flipped a switch in my head. I was like ‘I want to do something with my life, and that’s basketball.’ I really got to the mindset of getting 1 percent better day.”
 
Bill appeared headed to Division III Alfred, but he made contact with then-Daemen coach Mike MacDonald and decided to go to the Division II school without a scholarship.
 
MacDonald directly told Bill he heard from plenty of people that he shouldn’t recruit the young player. Bill offered no counterargument, saying he wouldn’t recruit himself, either. But there was that new willingness to put in the time.
 
“He kept developing, kept working,” MacDonald said. “He redshirted after his freshman year to try and develop even more. His work ethic is something that’s really good. He has great hands, he has a very good touch around the rim, and he’s very unselfish. Sometimes, he’s too unselfish where he’s trying to pass too much. That’s a good problem to have.”
 
Bill came out of the redshirt year an entirely new player. He averaged 16.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while shooting 70.8 percent on the way to third team all-America honors in 2024-25. Last season, he notched 17.0 points and 7.7 rebounds a night for Daemen.
 
That was enough to open the door to Division I opportunities in his last year of eligibility. When MacDonald took over at St. Bonaventure, the path was even clearer.
 
“Right as he got the Bonaventure job, he called me into his office,” Bill said. “I think I was already in the portal at that time and he said ‘Yeah, I definitely want you to come with me,’ and that he’d love to have me at Bonaventure.”
 
After being part of three consecutive NCAA tournament teams at Daemen, Bill knows what a successful team led by MacDonald looks like. And he’s optimistic the Bonnies are on the right track as MacDonald’s first season at St. Bonaventure is about to get underway.
 
“I’m feeling really excited for this team and I think we can go a long way and get a lot of wins and do very well,” Bill said.
 
A LOOK AT THE BONNIES:
Coach: Mike MacDonald, first season at St. Bonaventure, 522-312 in 29 seasons overall.
 
Last year: The most memorable part of Mark Schmidt’s final season with the Bonnies came in his last week on the job. After St. Bonaventure earned the No. 13 seed with a 4-14 league record, it hammered La Salle in the first round and then stunned George Mason the next day before pushing Dayton in a 68-63 quarterfinal loss. The Bonnies hadn’t won back-to-back games since early December, but the three-day run secured a .500 overall record at 17-17.
 
They’ll miss: Unsurprisingly for the only program in the league with a new head coach, the Bonnies lost much of their production. Their top six scorers departed, a group that was led by guard Darryl Simmons II (16.4 ppg) and forward Frank Mitchell (16.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 19 double-doubles). They also needed a new point guard after Dasonte Bowen (10.9 ppg, 4.6 apg) exited the program.
 
Impact returners: The most productive holdover is 6-foot-10 junior Joe Grahovac (4.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg), who ranked second on St. Bonaventure (and sixth in the A10) with 54 blocked shots.
 
There is also optimism a healthy Ilia Ermakov can help. The 6-6 sophomore averaged 2.9 points in nine games before an ankle injury shortened his season, but he dropped 12 points on Buffalo in early December and could be a force in the pick and roll.
 
Newcomers of note: Among those who haven’t played for MacDonald, guards Taj Au-Duke and Ari Fulton and forward Mason Blackwood stand out.
 
Au-Duke, who helps continue the Bonnies’ longtime Canadian connection, was a reserve at Pepperdine two years ago before averaging 12.8 points and 5.1 assists at Indian Hills Community College last season.  He’s likely to see plenty of time at the point for St. Bonaventure.
 
The 6-7 Fulton was a second team all-America East pick last season at NJIT, where he averaged 10.9 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds. Blackwood, a 6-7 a native of nearby Rochester, N.Y., is a Penn State transfer who scored 15 points against his former team in an Oct. 17 exhibition and should be a regular contributor in the paint.
 
Reasons to be optimistic: MacDonald didn’t come alone, bringing along not only Bill but also senior guards Zach Philipkoski (a Division II All-America selection last season) and Ryan Heath.
 
Not only were they vital pieces in Daemen teams that went a combined 61-3 the last two seasons, but they have also served as de facto assistant coaches in getting new teammates up to speed.
 
“What was important to me is they are people who can speak our language and they know what I’m talking about,” MacDonald said. “If I start talking too fast, they can kind of slow everything down and help the other 13 guys fit in and figure out where I’m going with it and what we need to do. They also understand our culture, what we want and how we want to accomplish the things we want to do.”
 
X factor: With a new coach and a largely new team, St. Bonaventure will be developing cohesion on the fly as much as anyone in the A10.
 
It’s little surprise the Bonnies’ staff is preaching a team-first approach.
 
“We’re going to try and play fast and be very unselfish on offense and defense,” MacDonald said. “Nobody really talks about being unselfish defensively, but really when you’re unselfish defensively, you’re helping your teammates out. So we want to be a very unselfish team that puts teammates in position to be successful.”
 
Circle the date: How about the start of MacDonald’s tenure when Youngstown State visits on Nov. 2? And if history is your thing, the Bonnies are part of a season-long celebration of the Palestra’s 100^th anniversary when they face former Atlantic 10 rival Temple at the hallowed Philadelphia basketball arena on Dec. 12.
 
Bottom line: It’s going to take some time to grow accustomed to someone other than Schmidt on the Bonnies’ sideline. Schmidt exited after earning a program-record 340 victories over 19 seasons, though MacDonald (a 1988 Bona’s graduate) is returning to familiar territory and knows a bit about successfully leading a program in western New York.
 
It might be asking a bit much for a surge into the top half of the standings, but if MacDonald’s culture and philosophy quickly take root, St. Bonaventure should create some headaches --- especially when conference rivals visit the rowdy Reilly Center on cold winter nights.