Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY JONNY WALKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Don’t crown this season’s St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team too soon.
Last week, media and coaches picked the Bonnies third in the Atlantic 10 Conference’s annual Preseason Poll. Bonaventure was one of just four teams to earn a first-place vote. KenPom, a popular stat-based index that ranks every Division I program, catapulted the Bonnies up 131 spots in its preseason rankings — just one spot behind A-10 favorite Dayton.
Expectations are high despite the Bonnies coming off their worst year record-wise since head coach Mark Schmidt’s debut season 18 years ago. Bonaventure limped to a ninth-place finish in last year’s A-10 standings, losing six of its final seven regular-season games. In KenPom’s final rankings of 2022-23, the Bonnies sat 201st of 363 eligible teams.
The meteoric rise many anticipate the Bonnies will experience this season appears predicated on two main assumptions.
First, Bonaventure’s six key returning players will collectively improve in their second season playing together under coach Schmidt. Second, Bonaventure’s key transfers will play valuable minutes without disrupting the existing core’s on-court chemistry.
This season, Bonaventure returns its six-highest minute getters from last season. Headlining that group of returning players is redshirt senior guard Daryl Banks III, who led the Bonnies with 15.4 points per game while averaging 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
Banks’ production as Bonaventure’s number-one offensive option landed him on this year’s A-10 Preseason All-Conference First Team. But unlike his fellow first-team guards, Banks’ impressive statline masks the tale of a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer. The fifth-year senior’s 15 points came on over 12 shots per game. Banks’ 36% shooting from the field last season easily ranks last among the A-10’s five preseason first-team guards.
Banks — as he demonstrated in 30-plus point explosions against A-10 rivals UMass and Saint Joseph’s — certainly possesses the shot-making ability needed to carry Bonaventure’s offense in conference play. But for every 30-point explosion, he posted three single-digit letdowns. And in the games Banks couldn’t wow, fellow starting guards Kyrell Luc and Moses Flowers proved largely incapable of carrying increased offensive loads. And despite establishing himself as a strong inside presence last season, preseason all-conference third teamer Chad Venning never proved he could propel the Bonnies to victory like Banks.
If Banks reprises his role as the Bonnies’ clear-cut, number-one offensive option — as his preseason all-conference first-team billing suggests — then the meteoric rise many expect the Bonnies to experience this season will depend on Banks’ ability to score efficiently and consistently.
But many believe Banks will get significant support in terms of perimeter scoring from graduate transfers Charles Pride and Mika Adams-Woods. But, as both Banks and Schmidt admitted at last week’s A-10 Media Day, any team that makes high-profile additions to its lineup must answer questions regarding team chemistry.
Pride, a 6-foot-4 guard who led Bryant to its first conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, isn’t just used to being the best player on his team but arguably the best player in his conference.
Adams-Woods, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged nearly eight points per game as a four-year starter at Cincinnati. He arguably transferred down a level in joining Bonaventure, leaving the American Athletic Conference for the A-10.
While adding Pride and Adams-Woods certainly increases Bonventure’s overall talent, it remains to be seen how those two pieces will fit into the team’s established rotation, especially in crunch time.
Last season, Banks emerged as Bonaventure’s unquestioned leader on the court. In late-game situations, the offense ran through Banks. Whether Pride or Adams-Woods might disturb that hierarchy — or even send Flowers or Luc to the bench — is a question Schmidt will have to answer early this season.
Given Bonaventure’s retooled roster, it’s not unreasonable to expect this team to improve. But to project a six-to-seven spot leap up the A-10 standings before seeing how Bonaventure’s new additions gel with the team’s existing core is incredibly premature.
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
