NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 men's basketball preseason poll was announced Thursday morning for the upcoming season in conjunction with conference Media Day. St. Bonaventure was selected 10th in a vote of coaches and media.

St. Bonaventure boasts an entirely new look this season with six transfers and three freshmen. The Bonnies used the transfer portal to rebuild their roster after the loss of their senior class from a year ago. Last year, Bona's five senior starters accounted for all but five possible starts during the entire season. Through the transfer portal, the Bonnies added two sophomores who won their respective league rookie of the year crowns last year: Kyrell Luc (Patriot League) and Anquan Hill (NEC). In so doing, the Bonnies are the only program to add two conference Rookie of the Year winners via transfer for this season.

Despite being a totally different roster, the Bonnies are not without veteran leadership. Redshirt juniors Daryl Banks III and Moses Flowers were elected by their teammates to be team captains this season. Banks helped key an unforgettable Cinderella NCAA Tournament run by Saint Peter's last season, highlighted by a career-high 27 points in an overtime win over Kentucky as the Peacocks reached the Elite Eight. He poured in 890 points in three seasons at Saint Peter's, averaging better than 11.3 points per game last season and also finished with 26 points against Providence as well as 14 in a Sweet 16 win vs. Purdue.

Flowers, meanwhile, played three seasons at Hartford, starting 66 of 69 career games. Last season, he averaged 14.7 points and 6.4 rebounds.

The Bonnies boast four players with All-Conference awards on their collegiate resumes: Banks is a three-time All-MAAC pick while Flowers captured All-America East honors twice in addition to Luc and Hill's top rookie honors last year.

The Bonnies are the only Atlantic 10 team to reach at least 10 conference victories during A-10 action in each of the last eight years. During that time, Bona's is 95-45 in league play, the third-best mark among all A-10 programs. The program has also finished in the top five of the A-10's regular season standings in each of the past seven years.

Though the Bonnies have an entirely new look this year, the program remains under the direction of head coach Mark Schmidt who time and again has turned the team into a winner.

In Schmidt's 15 seasons at the helm, the Bonnies have averaged 18 wins per year and have reached that win total every year since 2013-14 with the lone exception of the A-10 championship season of 2020-21 when the pandemic limited the schedule and the team finished 16-5. Last year, the Bonnies finished with 23 victories, earned a national Top 25 ranking and reached the semifinals of the NIT. St. Bonaventure has finished top-five in the final Atlantic 10 standings in each of the last seven years.

Dayton (428 points), which received 22 out of a possible 29 first-place votes, was tabbed preseason favorites ahead of Saint Louis (411) and VCU (370). Loyola Chicago (315), the league's newest member, was picked fourth followed by George Mason (300) and Davidson (294).
 
Richmond (276), last year's tournament champion, Massachusetts (228), Rhode Island (203) and St. Bonaventure (194) rounded out the Top-10 in the preseason poll.

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