New Roster Primer/Overview

[ceharv]

I put the following together about our revamped roster for two reasons. First, friends who are fans but who aren’t on the BW are having trouble keeping up with the changes.
Second, I am having trouble keeping up and I check in on the BW multiple times a day and I suspect I am not alone in having some trouble keeping up. Things are happening so fast, some guys tend to get lost already. For example, poor Moses Flowers seems like “yesterday’s news”, even though he may turn out to be the cream of the new crop by year’s end.
So here’s what I put together. Most of it is factual, with limited analysis/opinion. Please feel free to let me know if I got anything wrong.
Also, one thing that’s not kept as a stat that I am aware of, but should be, is a player’s tendency to foul out of games or commit fouls – something like a “fouls per 40 minutes” stat would be important to know, particularly for bigs and guards with good steal numbers. So if anyone has that kind of info please let me know in a reply and I will edit to incorporate the info and any corrections or other important facts into what I created.
So FWIW here goes (geez I hope there are no spelling mistakes or I might get banned:

Newbies

Barry Evans
True freshman from Putnam Science Academy - 6’8” forward known for a good all around game, averaging @ 17 and 8 at a high-level prep school well-known to Bona fans;

Yann Farrell - True freshman played at prep school last year. 4 star recruit, very highly recruited and possibly highest regarded recruit by Schmidt in his time at Bonas. 6’7” very athletic and defensive minded and getting better at offense;

Kyrell Luc - 5’11” point guard, super quick transfer from Holy Cross. Was the 2022 Patriot League rookie of the Year, averaging 13ppg, shooting 39.2% from the field and 35.5% from three;

Daryl Banks - 6’3” shooting guard transfer from ’22 NCAA Cinderella St. Peter’s - their leading scorer, averaged @11/game and had 27 in NCAA win over Kentucky. Was on ’21 MAAC All rookie team;

Moses Flowers - 6’3” shooting guard transfer from Hartford, averaged 14/6 shooting at 50% from field, 37.4% from 3;

Max Amadasun - 6’10” 230lb transfer from Pitt. Played little in 2022, big body who played for the Youth National team of Ireland and was a three star recruit out of prep school near NYC;

Chad Venning - 6’10” 280 lb - big big transfer from Morgan State. Averaged 7 and 3 in limited time;

Anquan Hill - 6’9” 195lb forward-center transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson. Was NEC Rookie of the Year averaging 7.7, 5.2 and 1.3 hitting 44.8 % and 27.6 from 3;

Melien Martinez - variously listed at 6’10”,6’11” and 7’0 and 200 lbs, Martinez played last year at a prep school in North Carolina after graduating from high school in Florida but is originally from the Dominican Republic. His stats and play show he is more focused on his defense and rebounding than his offense, which he describes as a work in progress. In 22 gams at prep level he averaged 8.1 ppg, 9.9 rpg and 4.2 blocks per game. Arrives as a true freshman.

Returnies:

Justin Ndjock-Tadjore - 6’7” sophomore guard/forward from Canada. The only returner who played at all last season, but played little. Despite showing talent and athleticism, and having the advantage of a year in the program, he may already have been recruited over with the new guards and forwards coming in;

Brett Rumpel - redshirt freshman. Put up crazy good numbers in HS in at Seton Catholic in Binghamton, 35ppg as a junior, 45 PPG in short senior season. and also had decent rebounding and assist numbers. Very quick at 6’4” and is one of the most prolific high school scoring recruits in program history;

Anouar Mellouk - redshirt freshman - 6’8” physical freak from the Netherlands with one year of prep school in US. Reportedly elite leaping ability, including photos of him kissing the rim and able to reach the top of the backboard at full extension.

Overall take – Bonas goes from having one of the oldest rosters in the nation to what is likely one of the youngest, certainly in the A-10 at least. Plus it goes from a primarily defensive minded team to one heavy in offensive talent, particularly three-point shooting. With Martinez onboard there is still one open ‘ship as of June 21st.

[78francis302]

Would I be eligible as a walk-on? I could bring considerable experience and our team would not be last in A-10 as youngest team.

78Francis302-Walk-on. 6'2" Played mostly Wednesday nights in Francis Hall gym during the school year and on outside courts in early fall and late spring 1974-1978. Graduated in 1978. Poor ball handler but could box out for rebounds and occasional block shot against shorter players. Shot well in 2 games from deep baseline (no 3 point line then) Played small city F league as a forward during high school and scored 2 points as eight grader in CYO league. (Actually scored 1 additional point from free throw line, but ref called it off because one of my teamates foot was over the line).

[Bonabob83]

Thank you for that. Very helpful.

I am high on JNT and don’t believe he has been recruited over. I expect him to be a key piece of the rotation this year.

[Chuck]

Solid post Ceharv. I’ll add some analysis.

Centers are very interesting as they all bring something different to the Bonnies.
— Noah, it is probably time to accept he is not playing with the Bonnies. GoBonnies never announced an official signing.
— Anquan is a slender athletic big man. By far Anquan has the most upside of the bigs. Here is an incredible stat to show his exciting upside. First 13 games at FDU, Anquan averaged 3.3 ppg. Last 13 games he averaged 12.2 ppg. With his upside, Anquan is my choice as starting center.
— Chad at 6’10 and 280 pounds is Schmidt’s heaviest center. Amadi is small in comparison at 250 pounds. Chad is very productive when he is on the court. For 40 minutes Chad led the team in scoring and was 2nd in rebounds. Is conditioning the reason why Chad played just 13.8 minutes per game for a bad Morgan State team? Morgan State NET is 300. Of the incoming big men, Chad had the most blocks at 27, which is impressive considering his limited playing time (barely plays a third of a game). Chad's blocks indicates he is a good athlete at 280 pounds.
— Max played a total of 21 minutes in 2 years at Pitt. As a freshman he was a backup center to Karim. Despite his minimal stats at Pitt, Max is a strong and very athletic big man. He received 3 P-6 offers. There are many P-6 recruits, who sat the bench and then transferred and saw their PT and stats improve significantly.

Forwards are few in numbers.
— Yann is Schmidt’s recruit who had by far the most P-6 offers. Jamie Shaw named Yann the top defensive player of Flyin’ to the Hoop Top Gun Showcase. This tournament had several high rated recruits. Adam Zagoria said Yann improved his 3 point shot to NBA range. He shot a very impressive 65% from the field. Has a very impressive build for a freshman. Have to figure Yann will be a starter.
— Barry at 17 ppg is the 2nd leading scorer for Putnam the #1 prep school. Kyle and Osun averaged 10 ppg and were the tied as the 3rd leading scorers for Putnam. Something I was surprised to discover about Barry was his impressive 3 point shooting as a junior in high school. He made 40% of his 3 pointers. 3 point shot is a significant part of his game as 24% of his shots were behind the arc. Barry is thin and athletic.
— Justin is my choice as top returning player. I think he is being over looked. Justin improved the most of any player I saw during practices. At the beginning Justin rarely scored. Just prior to start of the season, Justin would have practices where he was one of the leading scorer for the reserves. For the reserves in half court sets, Justin by far had the most highlight drives to the basket. Of the 3 returning players, Justin was the best at creating his own shot. Justin would have practices where his shot looked good and then have practices where he struggled with his shot. The good news is Justin has been putting in the time to improve his shot. Of the players I’ve seen this year, by far Justin has been working out the most in the Reilly Center. His shot looks significantly improved.

Guards, there are 3 quality guards.
— Daryl is my way too early choice as leading scorer for the Bonnies. Only incoming player who led his team in scoring. Incredible NCAA tournament, highlighted by his 27 points in eliminating Kentucky is very impressive.
— Moses stats and film, reminds me of Jaren Holmes. A strong shooting guard, who likes taking it to the basket. Free throw attempts is a great indicator of a guard's effectiveness in taking ball to the basket. Jaren led the Bonnies with 4.4 free throws a game. Moses averaged 4.1 per game. Moses 36.1% 3 point shooting is significantly better than Jaren’s.
— Kyrell as a freshman was the 2nd leading scorer for Holy Cross at 13.0 ppg. Like Anquan, Kyrell has impressive upside. He really picked it up in the 2nd half of his season. Kyrell averaged 17.1 ppg in his last 13 games. I don't think backup PG is a concern with Daryl and Moses both being listed as combo guards when they were being recruited out of high school.

[xianguitarist]

JNT is the next Demetrius Conger/Dion Wright/Denzel Gregg/LaDarien Griffin. An athlete that builds his skillset right before our eyes and becomes invaluable to the team.

There I said it...

And I believe it!

[78francis302]

Jun 10, 2022 9:31:41 GMT -5 Bonabob83 said:

Thank you for that. Very helpful.

I am high on JNT and don’t believe he has been recruited over. I expect him to be a key piece of the rotation this year.

You're welcome.

[BONA82.5]

Jun 10, 2022 11:23:27 GMT -5 Chuck said:

Solid post Ceharv. I’ll add some analysis.

Centers are very interesting as they all bring something different to the Bonnies.
— Noah, it is probably time to accept he is not playing with the Bonnies. GoBonnies never announced an official signing.
— Anquan is a slender athletic big man. By far Anquan has the most upside of the bigs. Here is an incredible stat to show his exciting upside. First 13 games at FDU, Anquan averaged 3.3 ppg. Last 13 games he averaged 12.2 ppg. With his upside, Anquan is my choice as starting center.
— Chad at 6’10 and 280 pounds is Schmidt’s heaviest center. Amadi is small in comparison at 250 pounds. Chad is very productive when he is on the court. For 40 minutes Chad led the team in scoring and was 2nd in rebounds. Is conditioning the reason why Chad played just 13.8 minutes per game for a bad Morgan State team? Morgan State NET is 300. Of the incoming big men, Chad had the most blocks at 27, which is impressive considering his limited playing time (barely plays a third of a game). Chad's blocks indicates he is a good athlete at 280 pounds.
— Max played a total of 21 minutes in 2 years at Pitt. As a freshman he was a backup center to Karim. Despite his minimal stats at Pitt, Max is a strong and very athletic big man. He received 3 P-6 offers. There are many P-6 recruits, who sat the bench and then transferred and saw their PT and stats improve significantly.

Forwards are few in numbers.
— Yann is Schmidt’s recruit who had by far the most P-6 offers. Jamie Shaw named Yann the top defensive player of Flyin’ to the Hoop Top Gun Showcase. This tournament had several high rated recruits. Adam Zagoria said Yann improved his 3 point shot to NBA range. He shot a very impressive 65% from the field. Has a very impressive build for a freshman. Have to figure Yann will be a starter.
— Barry at 17 ppg is the 2nd leading scorer for Putnam the #1 prep school. Kyle and Osun averaged 10 ppg and were the tied as the 3rd leading scorers for Putnam. Something I was surprised to discover about Barry was his impressive 3 point shooting as a junior in high school. He made 40% of his 3 pointers. 3 point shot is a significant part of his game as 24% of his shots were behind the arc. Barry is thin and athletic.
— Justin is my choice as top returning player. I think he is being over looked. Justin improved the most of any player I saw during practices. At the beginning Justin rarely scored. Just prior to start of the season, Justin would have practices where he was one of the leading scorer for the reserves. For the reserves in half court sets, Justin by far had the most highlight drives to the basket. Of the 3 returning players, Justin was the best at creating his own shot. Justin would have practices where his shot looked good and then have practices where he struggled with his shot. The good news is Justin has been putting in the time to improve his shot. Of the players I’ve seen this year, by far Justin has been working out the most in the Reilly Center. His shot looks significantly improved.

Guards, there are 3 quality guards.
— Daryl is my way too early choice as leading scorer for the Bonnies. Only incoming player who led his team in scoring. Incredible NCAA tournament, highlighted by his 27 points in eliminating Kentucky is very impressive.
— Moses stats and film, reminds me of Jaren Holmes. A strong shooting guard, who likes taking it to the basket. Free throw attempts is a great indicator of a guard's effectiveness in taking ball to the basket. Jaren led the Bonnies with 4.4 free throws a game. Moses averaged 4.1 per game. Moses 36.1% 3 point shooting is significantly better than Jaren’s.
— Kyrell as a freshman was the 2nd leading scorer for Holy Cross at 13.0 ppg. Like Anquan, Kyrell has impressive upside. He really picked it up in the 2nd half of his season. Kyrell averaged 17.1 ppg in his last 13 games. I don't think backup PG is a concern with Daryl and Moses both being listed as combo guards when they were being recruited out of high school.

I noticed no commentary on Rumpel. Do you see him getting decent minutes or riding the pine for the most part ?

[fjs64]

Jun 10, 2022 11:44:36 GMT -5 xianguitarist said:

JNT is the next Demetrius Conger/Dion Wright/Denzel Gregg/LaDarien Griffin. An athlete that builds his skillset right before our eyes and becomes invaluable to the team.

There I said it...


And I believe it!

I said it before, so I agree with you.

[diehard]

I agree with the JNT comments above, he is the next Denzel Gregg, Dion Wright, LaDarien Griffin. However, is there a reason people are leaving Brett Rumpel out of their analyses? Brett is a lightning fast guard with good size, he has practiced a year in the system and had god-like video game stats in HS. He may be the purest PG on the team as Kyrell could be considered a combo guard. I wonder which of the two has a higher basketball IQ. Brett has my vote for most overlooked player on the squad. I hope he surprises many this year.

Same for Anouar Mellouk.

I wouldn't count these guys out of contention for PT. Schmidt and Co. are task masters who will put them all through the Bonaventure butter-churner and the cream will rise to the top. Three of these players know what that means and the kind of hard work required to get PT, the others will soon find out.

[bonaforeva]

Rumpel, JNT, and Mellouk weren't afraid of a little competition unlike some of their now-former classmates. That's a resiliency that puts them a leg up in my book

[CoachSBU]

Thanks for your intriguing and usually very accurate info, Chuck. I hope Rumpel is better than he appears to the naked eye and JNT is as successful as you project he might be. Interesting about Mellouk and his half court game needing improvement. Hopefully, the coaching staff can make a difference for this issue. In watching a replay of the delicious revenge defeat of the Sooners in the NIT tonight, I am reawakened to the little things that made the Iron 5 a success story for us Bonnie fans the past four years: Great defense with super awareness of avoidance of foul trouble. Also...despite a lack of overall height for a starting 5, the positioning for rebounding ability, does say a lot about the coaches ability to teach our young fellas the importance of this skill. I project a lot of disappointing comments for the upcoming season on this board but hopefully, given some time, our coaches can again take a group of young men and turn them into stars who will compete for more Big Dance berths...

[Chuck]

Thanks for the kind words CoachSBU. More I thought about it, I think it is wrong of me to put so much emphasis on practices from last season. It was a year ago. Players can develop during the season and over the off season. Such as Dion Wright was a completely different player in his sophomore year or LaDarien making steps every year after being a raw freshman. I deleted my post, because I think it was wrong of me.

I can tell you Brett has a good shot and if he gets hot his shot becomes special. He also has really good shot selection. In my opinion Anouar was the most athletic player on the team and with Adaway that is saying a lot. I thought Anouar's full court game was special.

I'm looking forward to Justin, Brett and Anouar's development this summer.

[BONA82.5]

I fully expect Brett to impress and compete for a starting role this season. Brett is much more than a shooter. He is a gym rat with exceptional quickness, court vision, and athleticism. I can see him being a perfect 6th man - giving us a big spark off the bench. He plays an all out - up tempo style and should mesh very well with the new group that Coach Schmidt and staff have assembled. I can see him being an instant fan favorite just from the energy he brings - on both ends of the floor ...

[ganyguy]

Charv…ty! It’s tough even as a board regular to keep things straight. Very helpful! Excited to watch these guys come together and grow as a group

[ceharv]

Ganyguy - YW and good to hear I wasn’t alone. In prepping the post, I had to go back in the threads to find Moses Flowers name and info - I had already forgotten him in that flurry of guards that signed on. Sort of embarrassing if you consider yourself a true fan. At least I recognized the feeling that there was someone I was forgetting about.🤨And I agree about the excitement that will come with a new crop of talented but young players coming together as a team.