By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tenth-year St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt didn’t dance around the subject when it came to discussing playing time for graduate transfer Chinonso Obokoh.
“You don’t bring in a transfer to sit him on the bench,” Schmidt said during the recent Big 4 media day at the Key Bank Center. “Our expectation is he is ready to be a productive player.”
Obokoh left Syracuse University after three seasons and joined a Bona squad in need of rim presence.
“We got a veteran guy with some strength who can rebound and play defense,” Schmidt stated. “He’s a fourth year senior. He’s been through it even though he didn’t play a lot at Syracuse. He’s been through it.”
The Bonnies lost Dion Wright (16.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg) to graduation. It was expected that redshirt freshman Jordan Tyson (2.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and freshman Derrick Woods (3.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg) would combine to help fill the void left with Wright’s departure. Both transferred during the off-season leaving the door open for Obokoh to flourish.
“He’s practiced against really good players,” Schmidt said of Obokoh. “We’re hoping he’s going to be a big part of our success this year.”
ESPN rated Obokoh as 19th-best center coming out high school where he played for then head coach Jon Boon at Bishop Kearney in Rochester, New York.
“He’s going to help them a lot especially on the defensive end,” said Boon who helped his former player in the transfer process. “He’ll rebound. He’ll block shots, play post defense.”
Obokoh played a critical role in three straight Section Five championships under Boon. The native of Enugu, Nigeria averaged 11.3 points, 15.6 rebounds and seven blocks during his senior season. Despite missing five games with a foot injury he led the Kings to the New York state Class A title.
“If he can stay healthy, he’ll have a great year,” Boon added.
Along with Wright, Bona also graduated Marcus Posley (19.6 ppg) from a team which finished 22-9 and claimed a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title. The Bonnies did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“We lost two really good players,” Schmidt said “The goal of the program is to maintain or to continue to climb. That’s what we’re going to do. We know what we lost. Some people may not appreciate it, but Marcus was a great player, Dion was one of the top 15 players in the league even though he didn’t get voted one of the top 15, he was.
“We want to get better every year. We think the kids we brought in can maintain or get better. We’re not into rebuilding. We’re into just continuing to rebuild the program.”
Obokoh is one of seven Bona newcomers including David Andoh, Josh Ayeni, Tareq Coburn, Amadi Ikpeze, Matt Mobley and Courtney Stockard.
Andoh and Mobley practiced with the team but sat out last season per NCAA transfer requirements. Stockard redshirted 2015-16 because of a foot injury.
St. Bonaventure opens the 2016-17 season on November 12th against St. Francis (Pa.)
The Bonnies will host Fordham and Obokoh’s high school teammate, Antwoine Anderson at Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena on Saturday, January 14th.
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