Atlantic 10 Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2020-21 season

DAYTON, OH - FEBRUARY 28: Trey Landers #3, head coach Anthony Grant and Ryan Mikesell #33 of the Dayton Flyers celebrate winning the Atlantic 10 regular season championship following their win over the Davidson Wildcats at UD Arena on February 28, 2020 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 17: head coach Mark Schmidt of the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

Tier 1: Saint Bonaventure Bonnies

With all the talk about how good Richmond and SLU are set to be, I think the Bonnies, as has been a theme over the past couple of offseasons, are being somewhat overlooked. They were good but not great last season, finishing 5th in the A10 while going 3-7 against the top half of the standings and earning 8 of their conference wins against teams in the bottom 4, but it seemed like they were never totally able to consistently find their rhythm for various reasons.

Probably the biggest factor that played into that was Osun Osunniyi, the Bonnie’s rock in the post, dealing on and off with injuries, but the team struggled with finding reliable options off the bench as well. This year, they should be much deeper in terms of their whole rotation, and I like their chances to bounce back in a major way and ultimately contend for the conference trophy.

As far as returning players outside of Osunniyi, Kyle Lofton has always been a stud at the PG spot, Dom Welch is good for 12 points and 7 boards per contest from the wing, and Jaren English, Alejandro Vasquez and Justin Winston are all candidates to have breakout seasons. All of those guys should combine to form one of the best cores in the league, and newcomers like Jalen Adaway (JUCO transfer) and incoming Freshman Quintin Metcalf should be able to find immediate niches as well. If Kent State transfer Anthony Roberts can somehow get a waiver to play this season, that would be absolutely massive news; he’s another guy who can create his own shot and space the floor with his range (12.7 points per game with the Golden Flashes).

Even with all the good news about the roster, the real reason to not sleep on the Bonnies – for this and for every season – is the fact that they have possibly the best coach in the league in Mark Schmidt. I trust him to capitalize on the team’s improved experience and talent in an A10 that will have many good teams, but no real juggernauts like Dayton were last season. Outside of Richmond, I view the Bonnies as having as good a case as anyone for why they could end up on top.

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