The Bonnies Baseline feature series focuses on Bona players in each home game program during the season. Game programs are free for fans to pick up at Reilly Center entrances. To read previous installments in the series click here.

After a season's worth of work, things were starting to come together for Xander Wedlow.

The 18-year-old faced a steep learning curve in his first year at the Division I level but built his way from a handful of minutes off the bench into a vital role in the Bonaventure frontcourt.

The proof was there for everyone in the Reilly Center to see during a win over Fordham on Feb. 1.

On that day, Wedlow registered a seemingly effortless 10 points, going 5-for-5 from the floor in his first double-figure scoring game.

"The game at that point slowed down. It showed me I belong out here," he remembers.

The D-I grind can be a daunting jump for anyone, even more so for the youngest player on a veteran team in the Atlantic 10.

But, a season of working each day with the team's oldest player, graduate captain and fellow center Noel Brown, paid dividends for the Detroit native.

"It was a blessing to have him. He was my workout mate on the court. We were hotel roommates when we traveled. We were together the whole year," Wedlow said. "He was open about helping me and never made me feel like I was a burden for asking questions. He helped me when I would fall down and celebrated my small wins."

Just a few days after Wedlow had his breakout moment, confirming that he and Brown were becoming a formidable Bonnies big man duo, things took a turn.

During a workout, the 6-foot-10, 245-pound Wedlow made a spin move and felt a pop.

He would try to play through the pain with a variety of treatments and knee braces, but the injury would bring an end to his freshman season and set him on a new journey.

Always the tallest kid in his age group growing up around the Motor City, he was in eighth grade when he realized basketball could be more than just a hobby.

As he improved, he found unique ways to enhance his skill set on the court.

"I tried football in 10^th grade, but I was too big; I was always getting hit in the knees. My mom pulled the plug on it and said to try track," he said.

So, he followed in the footsteps of his mother who was a standout hurdler herself.

"I saw the track team and when they ran by it was quiet. It really struck me," he remembers. "They showed me some drills to run on your toes and that transferred to basketball. I started taking longer strides when I ran and not pumping my arms as much. All of a sudden, I was getting down the court faster than everyone else."

He was 6-foot-9 at the time, but he posted the eighth-fastest 400-meter time in his school's history.

On the court, success grew.

He ranked as Michigan's No. 6 recruit and the No. 52 center in his recruiting class overall as an All-State pick at University Preparatory Academy, averaging a double-double while also swatting eight shots a game.

Midway through his senior year, he learned he was on the radar of the Bonaventure coaching staff when associate head coach Sean Neal attended one of his games unannounced.

He started to get a feel for what Bona's could offer him when another Detroit native, Jaren Holmes, reached out.

A 1,000-point scorer and key part of the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship team at Bona's, Holmes and Wedlow had a mutual connection through their mothers – Holmes' mom had taught Xander's in high school.

"It was good to know someone who had been there and been through it," Wedlow said. "You can look at his line of work and tell Bonaventure helped him. He was part of a winning culture and got better every year. It was a testament to the work that gets put in at Bonaventure."

Wedlow had begun to earn head coach Mark Schmidt's trust as a true freshman and was on a steady upward trajectory for a postseason team when injury sidetracked him.

Told he needed surgery, Wedlow underwent a procedure in Olean to repair and replace torn cartilage in his knee. Bone was rubbing on bone, forcing a removal of remaining bone fragments before the insertion of a cartilage transplant plug into the knee.

It's a transplant procedure just one NBA player has had – Lonzo Ball.

"There were times I doubted being able to play at this level again," he said. "It was a major surgery and not many people have gotten this surgery before. There aren't many examples to work off."

He had nearly eight weeks of orders not to put weight on the knee at all. Finally, he was cleared to resume basketball activities in October.

With the Bonaventure coaching staff committed to working with him through the rehab process, the thought of moving to another program never came to Wedlow despite the age of the transfer portal.

"I see what four years look like at Bonaventure. I see how much better I got in a short amount of time," he said.

Wedlow made his return to game action in a win over Siena last month and saw minutes in a victory over East Carolina.

"There are still some movements I can't do, but it's a blessing to be able to run down the court," he said of his recovery process, which he says leaves his knee feeling better all the time. "I had to realize this is my journey. I'm taking each day as a blessing."

While a major injury could leave many athletes with a sense of self-pity, Wedlow takes the opposite view – choosing to see this bump in the road as just a twist that will lead to another breakthrough moment.

"I came in young and I didn't take the game for granted, but I looked at it as something that was always going to be there," he said. "To have it taken away from me, it made me appreciate the game a lot more. I respect my craft more. All the little things – stretching, film, working out. I found joy in doing it. Having the hunger to get back better is a great feeling."