Atlantic 10 Basketball: Breaking down each program’s 2018 recruiting class

St. Bonaventure Bonnies

The Bonnies could surprise people this season. Yes, they lost co-PoTY Jaylen Adams (19 points per game) and Matt Mobley (18 ppg), but they have some solid pieces coming back along with an underrated incoming class. Also, let’s not forget they have one of the A10’s best coaches in Mark Schmidt – I trust him to find a way to make things work and keep them competitive, at least with the middle of the conference.

The newcomer I’m most looking forward to watching in a Bonnies uniform is 3-star small forward Dom Welch. Welch is electric on offense – just the type of player the Bonnies will need to get things going on that end of the floor. The trio of Welch, Courtney Stockard (13 ppg last season), and UNLV-transfer Jalen Poyser (8 ppg there) will be a load for opposing defenses to deal with. Of course they won’t be quite as good, but I think that trio can replace most of the scoring output lost with the departures of Adams and Mobley.

Another exciting playmaker that Schmidt will use often is point guard Kyle Lofton. Lofton is another one of those players that was wanted all over the A10, and for good reason. He’s not the scorer that Adams was, but he won’t have to be. He will just need to be smart with the ball and set up his teammates on the wings, which I’m confident he can do more than adequately.

Osun Osunniyi (6’10” center) and Alpha Okoli (6’4″ shooting guard) probably won’t see as much time as the other two freshmen, but they should provide good minutes backing up Amadi Ikpeze and Jalen Poyser, respectively. Osunniyi chose the Bonnies over New York powerhouse Syracuse and Okoli can shift the momentum of games with his scrappy defense and dunking ability.