Atlantic 10 Basketball: Top 10 returning players for 2018-2019
By Stu Luddecke
Stockard was almost never the best player on the floor for the Bonnies last year. For the most part, he played third banana to the dynamic duo of Matt Mobley and Jaylen Adams (both NBA talents). Now that those two are gone, however, it’s clear who the best player in Olean is.
We saw glimpses of what Stockard’s future could be in the Bonnies’ NCAAT game against UCLA. Adams and Mobley were cold, so he had to step up in a major way. He did, and a game-high 26 points later, the Bonnies were moving on to the second round.
Stockard doesn’t dazzle with crossovers or hit impossible fade-aways, but he plays smart and does all the little things well. His combination of rebounding, defense, and clutch scoring (he also dropped 30 in a huge game vs. Davidson) make him one of the most reliable players in the league. This will be a comparatively down year for the Bonnies, but I still expect them to contend with the upper-middle of the league. Stockard is a major reason why.