NCAA Basketball: Buy or Sell preseason top 25 teams of 2021-22 after a month
23. St. Bonaventure Bonnies
The Bonnies were one of the most predictable teams to view this season, thanks to all five double-digit scoring starters coming back for their senior campaigns. That included star guard Kyle Lofton and big man Osun Osunniyi, along with a trio of 6’5 guards (Jalen Adaway, Jaren Holmes, Dominick Welch) that made this team the preseason frontrunners in the Atlantic 10.
All five are once against averaging double figures while playing around 90% of the team’s total minutes again. But the MVP of the Bonnies so far has to be Holmes, averaging a team-leading 17.4 ppg, along with 7.1 rpg and 4.9 apg. He’s been the de facto point guard whenever Lofton has been out, which he has been for the past few games with an ankle injury. His emergence as an all-around playmaker gives the team something new, while the rest of the team has played as expected.
The only thing that is of concern is how much wear and tear St. Bonaventure will go through. They have an 8-man rotation but bench players Quadry Adams, Karim Coulibaly, and Linton Brown have played limited minutes. This team can’t afford much more injuries heading into league play and needs the starting five to play at a high level while avoiding foul trouble.
This team’s resume is solid, with wins over Clemson and Marquette in the Charleston Classic, without any other bad losses as long as Northern Iowa does well in the Missouri Valley Conference. While I would have liked to see them look more dominant against inferior opposition, Holmes’ continued development into a star along with Lofton coming back soon makes this a top-25 caliber team and still the favorite to win their league.