Bonnies Basketball 2023-24 Season Outlook

VETERAN SQUAD ENTERS SEASON WITH HIGH HOPES

• St. Bonaventure returns all five starters from last year's squad and 90 percent of its scoring from a year ago.
• The Bonnies have four fifth-year players: Daryl Banks III, Moses Flowers and newcomers Mika Adams-Woods and Charles Pride are all in their fifth year of eligibility. In addition, Chad Venning and Noel Brown are both in their fourth seasons of play as redshirt juniors thanks to NCAA eligibility rules following the pandemic.
   

THE EXPERIENCE FACTOR

• Combined, the Bonnies roster boasts 725 career games and 562 starts at the Division I level. Among Atlantic 10 teams, only Duquesne has more career game experience on its roster (740) while the Bonnies have more combined career starts than any other A-10 squad.
• Daryl Banks III (121), Mika Adams-Woods (121), Charles Pride (112) and Moses Flowers (102) have all played more than 100 career games with Banks (109) and Adams (104) owning more than 100 career starts each.
• St. Bonaventure has three 1,000-point scorers on the roster in three fifth-year products: Charles Pride (1,528 points), Daryl Banks III (1,382) and Moses Flowers (1,143). Adams-Woods is also close at 955 while Kyrell Luc enters the year with 765 points.
• The Bonnies return all six players who started double-digit games last year - Daryl Banks III (32), Kyrell Luc (32), Assa Essamvous (32), Chad Venning (29), Barry Evans (21) and Moses Flowers (11).
• Assa Essamvous is a familiar face with a different name this year. He was known to fans as Yann Farell last year, but his full legal name is Yann Farell Assa Essamvous. To better represent his family lineage from his native Gabon, he wishes to be referred to as Assa Essamvous this season. To honor his family, he will wear “Assa” on the back of his jersey this season.
   

THE ROSTER BREAKDOWN

• The Bonnies roster represents five states - New York (six players), Massachusetts (three), New Jersey (two), Maryland (one) and Virginia (one) as well as the countries of Gabon and the Dominican Republic.
• The Bonnies have four graduate students, one senior, three juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen.

ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES

• Redshirt senior Daryl Banks III was selected First Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10.
• In his first year with the Bonnies a season ago, Banks led the team in scoring while pacing the nation in minutes per game (38.4 mpg). He ranked ninth among all A-10 players in points per game during the regular season while playing 96 percent of possible team minutes and starting all 32 contests last year. He poured in 30-plus points three times and totaled seven 20-point efforts while ranking among the conference leaders with 79 3-pointers.
• Redshirt junior Chad Venning was selected Third Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10.
• Venning was a breakout star in his first Bonaventure campaign. He played in all 32 games, starting 29 while averaging 12.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks over 28 minutes per night. He stood third in the A-10 for blocks (46) and second in field goal percentage (58.1%).

DEPTH? YEP, THE BONNIES HAVE IT

• Last year, Assa Essamvous was Bona’s first Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team selection since 2019 when future 1,000-point scorers Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi were each selected. He became St. Bonaventure’s 11th A-10 All-Rookie Team selection in program history (seven of those players would go on to score 1,000 points in a Bonnies uniform).
• Essamvous ranked fourth among all A-10 players in 3-point percentage (41.3%, 62-150) during last year’s regular season. That’s the best season 3-point percentage by any Bonnies player since Jaylen Adams shot 43.6% in 2017-18 (75-172).
  Since 1990, no other Bonnies freshman has shot over 41 percent from beyond the arc with at least 50 makes on the year
• No other Bonnies freshman has made more 3-pointers in their collegiate debut since Tim Winn in 1996-97 (69).
  When Essamvous posted 22 points and 10 rebounds vs. UMass Dec. 31, he became just the fifth Bona freshman to score 22 or more points in a single game during the past 30 years, joining four 1,000-point scorers in Kyle Lofton (5 times in 2018-19), Jaylen Adams (once in 2014), Andrew Nicholson (3 times in 2008-09) and Tim Winn (twice in 1997). He was also the first Bonnies frosh to score 20 points in a half and to record 20+ points with a double-double in the same game since Nicholson in 2009.
• Kyrell Luc stood fifth among all A-10 players in steals (1.7 spg) and fifth in assists (4.3 apg) last year in his first season with the Bonnies. Luc, VCU’s Ace Baldwin and Davidson’s Foster Loyer were the three players who rank in the top five of both categories, making Luc the only returning Atlantic 10 player to make that claim.
• Luc handed out a team-high 137 assists last year.
• Between his first season at St. Bonaventure and his freshman season at Holy Cross when he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year, Luc has started all 63 career games in his first two collegiate campaigns.
• Moses Flowers accounted for 57 percent of Bona’s bench points prior to moving into the starting lineup in late January when he started the final 11 games of the season. After moving to the starting lineup, Flowers upped his scoring average to 12 ppg.

PUNDITS AGREE: THE BONNIES ARE BACK

• Last year, a completely new roster was forced to learn on the fly. St. Bonaventure was the only team in the country to not return a single point on its roster from the previous season, and the growing pains of a brand new unit were apparent at times during the season.
• The Bonnies finished with eight Atlantic 10 wins in 2022-23, snapping a streak of eight straight years with at least 10 conference victories. That was the longest active streak in the league. Four of Bona’s conference setbacks last year were by six points or less with losses to Rhode Island, La Salle, Duquesne and George Washington coming by a combined 11 points. In all, the Bonnies finished below .500 in Atlantic 10 play for the first time since 2014-15 and their 14 wins represented the lowest win total for the program since 2012-13.
• Those around the league and national media fully expect the Bonnies return to the top half of the A-10 this season, however, as the Bonnies have received buzz throughout the offseason.
• Bona's was selected third in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll while the Bonnies were picked second in the A-10 by Lindy's Magazine and KenPom. The KenPom rankings also had the Bonnies in the top-70 nationally in preseason. Likewise, the Bonnies stand second in Jon Rothstein's preseason A-10 standings. The Almanac also picked the Bonnies third in the A-10 and made Banks a First Team All-10 selection.

THE NEW FACES

• In addition to all the returners, the Bonnies added to their core with newcomers who could make an instant impact.
• Most notably, the Bonnies recruited three new players via the transfer portal: Charles Pride (Bryant), Mika Adams-Woods (Cincinnati) and Noel Brown (George Washington).
• The roster received a huge addition with the signing of transfer guard Charles Pride, a 1,500-point scorer at the Division I level who will add a veteran scoring presence to the Bonnies lineup. He will arrive at St. Bonaventure as a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining. The 6-foot-4 wing tallied 1,528 points (13.6 ppg) and 750 rebounds (6.7 rpg) in 112 career games including 97 starts at Bryant the past four seasons. He finished his Bryant career ranking fourth in program history for scoring and second in rebounding while also standing sixth in assists (250) and as the Bulldogs all-time leader in career steals (144).
• Pride will be the first Bonnies player to wear the number 7 since Michael Marens in 1942.
• Adams-Woods averaged 9.1 points, 3.2 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals while starting all 36 games as a senior at Cincinnati while shooting 43 percent from the floor and over 36 percent from distance (52-142) in 2022-23. In four collegiate seasons thus far, he recorded 955 career points and 306 assists at UC. As a junior, he ranked 15th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio when he committed only three turnovers over the final seven games and 190 minutes of play during the 2021-22 season.
• Pride and Adams-Woods bring a natural chemistry together: The two best friends grew up together in Syracuse and wanted to play their final seasons of college ball together.
• Brown will add vital depth in the middle for the Bonnies. The Virginia native brings three seasons of A-10 experience as he played in 68 games including 17 starts over three seasons at GW.
• True freshmen Duane Thompson and Miles Rose continue the Bona pipeline to Putnam Science Academy, one that has been highly beneficial to the program in recent years
• Thompson, a Boston native, helped Putnam Science Academy to a 39-3 record and a national championship and ranked as the No. 10 prospect in New England by the New England Recruiting Report prior to reclassifying from the 2024 class to 2023. He averaged seven points, three assists and two steals while shooting over 48 percent from the floor in 15 minutes per game for PSA after previously posting 21.7 points per game as a freshman at Holbrook High.
• Rose played two seasons and served as starting guard for national prep champions at Putnam Science Academy where he averaged seven points and two assists while shooting 43 percent from the floor in 2022-23. He logged 20 minutes per game as PSA finished 39-3 and won their final 21 games. Rose started his high school career at Bishop Kearney in Rochester, earning First Team All-League honors in 2020.
• Speaking of Putnam Science Academy, the Bonnies also welcome new assistant coach Dana Valentine who helped guide PSA to back-to-back national titles on their coaching staff.
• The roster also boasts the addition of freshman walk-on Jack DeRose, an Olean High alum who was named to the Big 30 First Team after averaging 16 points per game. DeRose joins senior Anthony Belardinelli and sophomore Broek Ostrom who return for second seasons with the program after walking on last year.

HOME SWEET HOME

• The Reilly Center remains one of the greatest home court advantages in all of college basketball.
• The Bonnies boast a .797 home winning percentage since 2015-16 (55-14) while they have posted a .712 winning percentage during the Mark Schmidt Era on home court.
• St. Bonaventure opens with four of its first six games on home court and has several marquee Atlantic 10 dates in The RC this year, including a nationally televised date vs. Saint Joseph's on ESPN2 as part of the A-10's Friday Night Showcase Jan. 26.

SHOOTERS SHOOT

• The Bonnies have nearly 800 career made 3-pointers on their roster this year.
• Daryl Banks III was among the A-10 leaders last year, draining 79 triples - for his career, he has registered 206 3-pointers.
• Four Bonnies are well over the century mark in threes made - along with Banks, Charles Pride (170), Moses Flowers (152) and Mika Adams-Woods (131) all have prolific three-point shooting history.
• Assa Essamvous proved to be a sharpshooter in his debut season, finishing the year 65-for-155 from beyond the arc including A-10 Tournament play.

AMONG THE POWERFUL

• The Bonnies get another shot at scoring signature wins in non-conference play when they head to Barclays Center Nov. 16-17 to compete in the Legends Classic. There, the Bonnies will face Oklahoma State in the first round and then either Auburn or Notre Dame in the finals.
• St. Bonaventure has made the most of its opportunities against Power Conference foes in recent years. Last year, the Bonnies toppled Notre Dame in the Gotham Classic to improve to 6-3 over power conference opposition in the last two years. In 2021-22, the Bonnies became the first mid-major program in the history of the NIT to score three consecutive road wins at P5 opponents (at Colorado, at Oklahoma, at Virginia) after defeating Clemson and Marquette earlier in the year.
• Bona's will also play one of the nation's finest mid-major programs and last year's NCAA Tournament Cinderella, Florida Atlantic, in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic Dec. 16 in Springfield, Mass. Just a year removed from a run to the Final Four, FAU opens the year ranked in the top 10 of several preseason national polls.

THE BRIGHT LIGHTS

• St. Bonaventure has seen its national profile rise in recent seasons and that trend will continue this year as the Bonnies will appear on national TV 10 times.
• Included in those 10 national TV games are two ESPN2 Friday Night Showcase contests and seven national TV appearances at home in the Reilly Center.

SCHMIDT REMAINS ONE OF NATION'S TOP COACHES

• Already St. Bonaventure's winningest coach in program history, head coach Mark Schmidt has made the Bonnies a contender year in and year out. 
• Schmidt enters the year with 282 wins at the helm of the Bonnies and is the longest tenured coach in program history, entering his 17th season in charge.
• Schmidt owns 364 victories as a Division I head coach.
• Under Schmidt, the Bonnies own a .652 winning percentage in Atlantic 10 play the last eight years (103-55).
• Defense has long been a calling card of Schmidt's teams: During his 16 seasons at the helm, Bonnies teams have held opponents to 65 points or less 160 times with a 133-27 record in those contests. 
• Schmidt's 149 Atlantic 10 victories rank fifth all-time in conference history.
• Bona has averaged nearly 18 wins per season during the Mark Schmidt Era and 30 of its players have gone on to play professionally.