Last season, St. Bonaventure lost in the Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals and was two wins away from a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Following the loss, the team had five players graduate and five enter the transfer portal. St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt needed to dedicate himself to his recruiting.
With the departure of the 10 players from last year’s squad, Schmidt went to the transfer portal to fill the remaining. With one of the losses being a senior walk-on, Schmidt needed to fill nine scholarship spots. He recruited talent from larger programs like Dasonte Bowen from the Iowa Hawkeyes, and looked to the best JUCO talent in the nation in Michael Folarin (Salt Lake CC), Jonah Hinton (Panola College) and Lajae Jones (Barton College). These are just four of the nine new faces on the Bonnies’ roster this season.
Here are the nine newcomers to the Bonnies roster:
#0 Chance Moore – Senior, Guard
After stops at Arkansas and Missouri State, Moore committed to the Bonnies for his senior year. The 6-foot-6 guard from Brookhaven, Georgia, averaged 10.7 points in 27 minutes per game for MSU last season.
#2 Jaxon Edwards – Junior, Guard
The Indianapolis, Indiana, native spent time at Murray State and Valparaiso and enters his first year at St. Bonaventure as a junior. A 6-5 guard, Edwards shot over 40% from the floor his sophomore season at Valpo.
#4 Ebrahim Kaba – Freshman, Guard/Forward
Kaba is one of two incoming freshmen for the Bonnies. From East Orange, New Jersey, the versatile 6-9 guard/forward will be surrounded by plenty of experience to develop his game.
#5 Dasonte Bowen – Junior, Guard
Bowen, a 6-2 junior from Boston, Massachusetts, appeared in 51 games for the Iowa Hawkeyes in his first two years of eligibility. The Brewster Academy product shot nearly 40% from the floor as a sophomore and looks to bring that efficiency to SBU.
#7 Michael Folarin – Redshirt Junior, Center
Hailing from London, England, Folarin is 6-11 and Committed to the Bonnies for his fourth year of eligibility. The redshirt junior shot nearly 57% from the field at Salt Lake Community College last season.
#8 Jonah Hinton – Redshirt Sophomore, Guard
A redshirt sophomore, Hinton spent last year at Panola College where he shot nearly 40% from 3. The 6-3 Chicago native brings sharpshooting to a team that shot 3-pointers at 36%.
#10 Lajae Jones – Junior, Guard
A 6-7 guard from Jacksonville, Florida, Jones previously played at Tarleton State as a freshman and starred at Barton Community College in Kansas. He shot over 42% from 3 and won NJCAA national championship tournament MVP as a sophomore at BCC.
#11 Melvin Council Jr. – Senior, Guard
After spending his first two years at Monroe Community College, Council made a stop at Wagner for his junior year before committing to Bonaventure for his senior year. The 6-4 guard from Rochester, New York, played every minute of Wagner’s NCAA Tournament First Four win last year.
#21 Xander Wedlow – Freshman, Forward/Center
A product of University Preparatory Academy, the 6-10 big man looks to provide depth to a frontcourt filled with seniority. Rated as the No. 6 recruit in his home state of Michigan, the Detroit native will utilize his shot-blocking prowess (8 blocks per game) shown in his prep career to impact the game when given a chance.
Returners
Returning guards Jack DeRose, Broek Ostrom and Miles Rose, along with forward Duane Thompson and center Noel Brown, round out Schmidt’s squad.
