By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has been predicted to win the Atlantic 10 title, the league announced as it unveiled its preseason poll on Wednesday. The Bonnies, defending A-10 regular season and conference tournament champions, are the preseason No. 1 for the first time in program history. SBU is the unanimous favorite, garnering all 28 first-place votes.
“It’s quite an honor,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt remarked. “It’s a credit to our players, my staff, the administration here. We’ve come a long way. To be picked No. 1 preseason in such a great league, with great coaches, great programs, great players, is a great honor and something we don’t take lightly.”
The Richmond Spiders, Saint Louis Billikens and VCU Rams were picked to join St. Bonaventure in the top four. Dayton was projected to place fifth, followed by Davidson, Rhode Island, George Mason, UMass and Saint Joseph’s. Duquesne, La Salle, George Washington and Fordham were ranked in the bottom four.
Kyle Lofton and Osun Osunniyi were named to the preseason First Team, while Jaren Holmes appeared on the Second Team. Osunniyi, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, also made the All-Defensive Team.
The voting panel ranked Bona fourth last season, while the highest the program was previously predicted to finish in Schmidt’s tenure was second in 2017-18. SBU ranked last in the 2007-08 poll before Schmidt’s first year at the helm.
Asked which teams are best equipped to challenge for the title, Schmidt said that the Bonnies have stiff competition.
“In this league, everybody’s good,” he remarked. “Great coaches, great players. You look at the polls, and Richmond, with all of those guys coming back, is gonna be tremendous; Coach [Chris] Mooney does such a great job with them. Saint Louis, VCU, Dayton, Davidson, you can go down the line. And there’s always a surprise. There’s always gonna be a team that’s picked in the middle of the pack that rises and either wins it or is in the top two or three. For us, being picked No. 1, it’s a great honor just because of how good this league is.
“And a lot of it is luck- injuries, a bounce of the ball. You look at last year, we had some really close games and for the most part we stayed injury-free. There’s a lot of factors that go into it, but I can’t really pick one team that’s gonna step up. There’s a ton of teams.”
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM 2020-21 STATS
Player School Yr. Pos. Hgt. PPG RPG APG
Hyunjung Lee Davidson Jr. G/F 6-7 13.5 4.0 2.5
Jacob Gilyard Richmond Gr. G 5-9 12.3 3.0 5.0
Grant Golden Richmond Gr. F 6-10 12.7 6.0 3.5
Osun Osunniyi St. Bonaventure Sr. F/C 6-10 10.7 9.4 2.4
Kyle Lofton St. Bonaventure Sr. G 6-3 14.4 3.5 5.5
Javonte Perkins Saint Louis Sr. G/F 6-6 17.1 3.9 1.8
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE SECOND TEAM 2020-21 STATS
Player School Yr. Pos. Hgt. PPG RPG APG
James Bishop George Washington Jr. G 6-2 19.1 2.9 5.1
Tyler Burton Richmond Jr. F 6-7 12.0 7.6 0.5
Jaren Holmes St. Bonaventure Sr. G 6-4 13.8 5.3 2.0
Taylor Funk Saint Joseph’s R-Sr. F 6-8 17.4 5.7 1.5
Jordan Hall Saint Joseph’s So. G/F 6-7 10.6 5.9 5.7
Vince Williams VCU Sr. F 6-6 10.6 5.2 2.2
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE THIRD TEAM 2020-21 STATS
Player School Yr. Pos. Hgt. PPG RPG APG
Luka Brajkovic Davidson Sr. F 6-10 10.9 6.0 1.8
Mustapha Amzil Dayton R-Fr. F 6-10 9.9 5.6 1.3
Toumani Camara* Dayton So. F 6-8 12.8 7.7 1.6
Josh Oduro George Mason Jr. F 6-9 9.9 6.1 1.2
Jeremy Sheppard Rhode Island Sr. G 6-1 11.3 3.1 2.8
Yuri Collins Saint Louis So. G 6-0 5.1 2.8 6.1
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