Atlantic 10 Basketball: 5 key questions heading into 2021-22 season
By Tyler Cronin
How does St. Bonaventure improve?
The worst misconception in college basketball is that a team will simply improve because they are older or bring back a great group of players. Teams always have to battle the natural regression that comes from better-prepared opponents, injuries, and key players not getting better. So St. Bonaventure will need to find ways to better a settled, veteran team but thankfully for them, that’s a situation where Coach Mark Schmidt excels.
Even the Bonnies’ best player, point guard Kyle Lofton, could potentially step up his game in his senior season. While Lofton was named first-team All-Conference last year, his stats actually regressed slightly from the year before. While most of the changes were negligible, Lofton’s three-point percentage dropped from 33.6% to 24%.
As an 82% career free throw shooter, Lofton has a nice shot form that hints at the possibility of improving from deep, and getting back above 33% could further stretch defenses that already have to chase a cavalcade of quality shooters around him.
Elsewhere amongst the starters, center Osun Osunniyi showed a sophisticated low-post game but only attempted 6.6 shots per game in conference play and could certainly find more ways to contribute offensively. Osunniyi (2.4 assists per game) has also shown himself to be a quality secondary playmaker, as have Dominick Welch (2.1) and Jaren Holmes (2.0). While Lofton is an elite playmaker, both Welch and Holmes could give him a chance to play more off the ball and add new wrinkles if Schmidt trusts them to take the reigns.
But the best chance for improvement comes from the bench unit, which played a mere 17 minutes total in the A-10 championship game and saw every one of it’s members leave. In the NCAA Tournament vs LSU, the trio of Lofton, Holmes and Welch combined to shoot 11/42 but all three stayed on the court, with there being no trusted option to replace them.
That role could go to either Wake Forest transfer Quandry Adams or JUCO transfer Linton Brown, who looks prepared for a major role after shooting 48.3% from three last season on 171 attempts. With two skilled guards on the court together at almost all times, Brown’s skill set makes him the perfect complement with a pair of playmakers and two big men who prefer to stay inside the arc.
St. Bonaventure will also be looking for contributions from the backup center position, after Osunniyi played 34.3 minutes per game last season, and will turn to Karim Coulibaly. Coulibaly started 20 games last season at Pitt, next to a power forward, Justin Champagnie, who plays similarly to the Bonnies’ Jalen Adaway.
Coulibaly shot over 50% from the field with a shade less than a block a game and not only fits into Osunniyi’s role on both ends of the floor but has the athleticism to play with him. If Brown and Coulibaly are ready for big roles, they could give Schmidt a level of flexibility he lacked last year and a drastically improved bench.