St. Bonaventure Basketball: Previewing the 2018-19 season for the Bonnies
By Bryan Mauro
Key Additions
As Coach Schmidt begins his quest to replace two of the best players in Bonnie history. He also lost another key part of his team last year in Josh Ayeni to transfer. The Bonnies need to replace a lot of production off of the previous years team and it is all going to start with rebuilding the bench. Coach Schmidt was able to secure the commitment of three freshman who are going to see key minutes for the Bonnies.
Initially, some of these minutes given to the freshman are going to be out of necessity. As the season wears on and the rotations tighten up, a couple of these new pieces are going to earn more minutes. Two of the freshman who should see minutes are former teammates from Putnam Science Academy. Those players are center Osun Osunniyi and guard Kyle Lofton. Lofton enters the year as the second point guard on the roster. Osunniyi averaged a double double at Putnam a year ago and may play quality minutes for the Bonnies down the road. The Bonnies are hoping they will not need Osunniyi’s production right out of the gate.
The prized possession of the freshman recruiting class is guard Dominick Welch. Welch had a prolific career for the SPIRE Institute. Welch averaged unbelievable numbers a year ago at Spire. His averages of 30 points a game, 14 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks a season ago, show that Welch can be a jack of all trades. The guard is ready to play quality minutes for the Bonnies and could be a player they lean on down the stretch.
Every great coach builds a program with incoming freshman and goes and scours the JUCO player ranks for a diamond in the rough from the junior college ranks. Coach Schmidt and the rest of his staff have done just that. The JUCO player on the Bonnies current roster makes his way to Olean from Northeast Community College in Nebraska. That player is forward Melkisedek Moreaux. Moreau is a forward who is a great rebounder and showed a good scoring prowess while at his JUCO. Moreau is going to fill in nicely as a depth piece initially for Schmidt and the Bonnies.