Atlantic 10 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

11. Saint Bonaventure Bonnies

The Bonnies are a tough team to project. On one hand, they will have a newer look than any other team in the country from a rotational standpoint, but on the other hand, it is unsafe under any circumstance to count Mark Schmidt out from contention.

None of the guys from last year’s starting five — and that was essentially the extent of the Bonnies’ rotation — will be back, but some of the transfers and Freshmen have the potential to surprise (most likely the guards, if previous Mark Schmidt teams are any indication) and help the Bonnies climb the standings.

The coaching staff dove head first into the transfer portal and stockpiled a variety of guys who shined at the low-major level – Moses Flowers averaged 14.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last year for Hartford; 6’3” Daryl Banks III was a pivotal piece on last year’s Saint Peter’s Elite Eight squad, and Kyrell Luc started every game running point for Holy Cross and took home the Patriot League Rookie of the Year award.

Beyond those three, there are some mildly-exciting transfers like Anquan Hill from Fairleigh Dickinson, and Freshman wing Yann Farrell is worth mentioning here as a top-150 recruit, but overall it’s difficult to see this team having enough juice (was going to also say “or depth,” but since when do the Bonnies ever need depth?) to crack the top half of the standings. I’ll bank on Coach Schmidt finding a way to game-plan this team out of the very bottom, but that’s as much of a leap of faith as I’m willing to make until the transfers prove that they can show out at the A10 level.