Wednesday, October 30, 2024 (Reilly Center, St. Bonaventure, NY)
Much like many of my fellow alumni, I am a fanatical St. Bonaventure men’s basketball fan. Even in the offseason, I scour message boards for any Bonnies hoops chatter I can find. In particular, when there’s a nearly 100% roster turnover (thanks NIL and current NCAA landscape) finding out the latest Bonnies signings fires me up, even when the season itself feels a lifetime away.
So, I was probably unnecessarily excited for this weeks’ exhibition game against Division III Alfred. Out of 13 scholarship players, a whopping TEN are newcomers that (in most cases) I’ve never seen play in any form, ever. The only hints of what to expect came from my message board absorption (shoutout “Chuck” on the Bona Bandwagon). It’s just a exhibition that doesn’t even count, so I’m not going to go too crazy, but here are some scattered early thoughts about each player and the team itself:
Immediately out of the gate, three transfers: Jaxon Edwards (Valpo), Dasonte Bowen (Iowa), and Chance Moore (Missouri State) stood out with their elite athleticism. All of these guys appear to be able to leap out of the Reilly Center. I expect all of these guys to play integral roles for the Bonnies this year.
Bonaventure made an obvious early effort to get captain, and only returning player, Noel Brown, early looks. Last year, with Chad Venning on the team, Brown was never the focal point of the offense and most of his scoring came organically, rather than designed plays for him. The first possession of both the first and second halves of this game featured Brown, so he’ll likely be in for a bigger designed role this year.
Melvin Council Jr. (transfer from Wagner) is exactly who I was hoping he’d be. Last year at Wagner, he led his team in every statistical category and a solid showing in the NCAA tournament. He was voted captain coming into his first season in the brown and white and his play was indicative of that. Council can get into the lane at will and I expect him to likely be this years’ leading scorer.
The first “Ooof, you don’t know Coach Mark Schmidt yet” moment went to freshman Xander Wedlow. Any Bonaventure fan knows there are certain things a player can do on the court that will cause them to instantly come off it….the court. Young Xander, a 6’10 center who likely doesn’t have the best touch from long range, launched a three-pointer with about 8:00 left in the first half. He came up with nothing but air (a “UFO” if Walt Clyde Frazier was on the call) and then spent the next 8 minutes on the pine. Welcome to Bonaventure, Xander. Learn from this!
Love what I see from JUCO transfer Lajae Jones. He’s the power 4 that has eluded Bonaventure teams for the past decade plus. His shot looks pretty smooth, even if it didn’t fall for most of the night. Jones also just looks good. I’m literally judging the book by its cover but the dude WAS a JUCO All-American last year, so it’s warranted. Looking forward to seeing him play this year. I anticipate him being a big part of Bonaventure’s success.
Miles Rose is a returning player (although he only played like five total minutes last year so he’s essentially new). In those five minutes last season, I remember thinking that he showed good athleticism and got to the rim easily, just couldn’t finish. He was able to weave into the lane in this game against Alfred as well. I don’t think he’ll play a big role (guard spot is too crowded) but he should get like 8 or so minutes a game and has an interesting and useful skill set.
Backfilling Noel Brown’s former role at backup center appears to be Michael Folarin from across the pond in London, England. I didn’t see too much of an offensive game but Folarin was more than competent at controlling the boards and the Bonnies probably have enough firepower that the Englishman won’t be needed to score anyway. He’s a nice depth piece with upside.
The Bonnies didn’t shoot the ball well overall…but perhaps the one bright spot was smooth-stroking Jonah Hinton from Chicago. He missed all of his shots in the first half but you could see the stroke was there. In the second half, Hinton splashed a couple threes and some nice mid-range jumpers as well. For a team that seems…well, let’s say ‘underwhelming’ when it comes to shooting the ball, Hinton’s prowess could earn him some extra minutes.
I hate to say it but the final returning player, Duane Thompson, didn’t stand out much to me. He didn’t do anything actively bad…but he didn’t stand out in a positive way, either. Maybe it’s just the opinion of this blogger but I just can’t think of any contributions one way or another from Thompson. My gut says this year may be another year of minimal contributions.
If I’m not mistaken, the first time freshman Ebrahim Kaba saw the floor was with five minutes to go in the second half! Is that a surefire sign that he’s destined for a redshirt year? Perhaps that’s the best thing for Kaba on a team with a pretty deep roster. If minutes were going to be hard to come by, then I’d rather the neophyte take a year off and continue to work on his game.
The biggest disappointment was the Frenchman Noah Bolanga. Reading some message board posts as well as the fact that the dude has played professionally overseas, I had high hopes for Bolanga’s game. But what I saw was average at best. I read that Bolanga was a great shooter and granted his stroke itself was pretty and you can see the potential, but it never fell. And he didn’t contribute in other ways either. I’m going to pass this off as just a bad night from a player who only recently joined the team. I can see Bolanga being a major contributor once he gets up to speed with the rest of the team.
Overall, I was very impressed with how well the Bonnies moved the ball on offense. The ball moved freely and quickly, especially considering these guys have literally never played a game together, ever.
The Bonnies’ shooting was iffy to say the least. I’m hoping it was just an off night from a bunch of guys who were anxious to play in front of their home crowd for the first time. It HAS to improve and I’m confident that it will seeing as though several guys on the team shot high percentages on their previous collegiate stops.
Mixed bag from the Bonnies but there’s reason to be encouraged. Let’s see how things play out going forward.
Next game: Monday November 4, 2024 vs. Cal-State Northridge @ 7:00PM EST