For the first time in school history, the CSUN men’s basketball team will be playing St. Bonaventure as the Matadors travel across the country to New York to take on the Bonnies in their season opener on Monday.
The Daily Sundial had the opportunity to talk with Kyle Maier, the sports editor for SBU’s student newspaper, The Bona Venture, to get a breakdown of the matchup between CSUN and SBU.
Maier provided a detailed look on how the Bonnies look heading into Monday’s game.
“This year’s Bonaventure squad is mostly made up of transfers from smaller mid-major conferences and even community colleges. I expect them to be middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10 conference,” Maier said. “There’s going to be turbulence early in the season as the team builds chemistry, but I think as the season goes on the Bonnies will become more and more of a threat to the A10’s top teams due to their depth,”
The Bonnies, like a lot of other mid-major programs, will be seeing a lot of new faces in their starting lineup. The season opener could feature up to four new transfers in the starting five, unlike CSUN whose starting lineup will be guaranteed to have four new players, with the inclusion of returning forward Keonte Jones.
“The starting five will likely consist of transfer junior point guard Dasonte Bowen, transfer senior guard Melvin Council Jr., transfer senior guard Chance Moore, and returning graduate center Noel Brown,” Maier noted. “The power forward spot is definitely up for grabs, but I could see returning redshirt forward Duarte Thompson filling that spot with his length at 6’8.”
Despite SBU playing in an upper tier mid-major conference in the A10, the transfer portal ravaged the Bonnies last season just like a lot of other similar mid-major programs. Maier stated the team brought in key transfers to help replicate the production lost from last season, similar to the Matadors.
“[St. Bonaventure head coach Mark] Schmidt and his coaching staff brought in a multitude of players who’ve shown they are dynamic scorers, including Chance Moore, Lajae Jones, Council Jr., Jaxon Edwards, etc,” Maier added.
Maier didn’t hesitate to name a player who could cause fits for the Matadors.
“Although Bonaventure has a lot of intriguing transfers, our most impactful transfer will be Melvin Council Jr. Selected First Team All-Northeast Conference after averaging 15ppg last season, Council is a proven collegiate scorer who Schmidt will immediately look to for big shots in big moments,” Maier mentioned.
According to ESPN BET, the Matadors head to St. Bonaventure as +8.5 underdogs. ESPN isn’t the only one who thinks CSUN will be a close underdog. Maier believes that the Matadors will keep it close as well, but still favors the Bonnies to pull out the season opener.
“This will be a close game; CSUN will play Bonaventure tough until the final buzzer,” Maier said. “However, with this being the Bonnie’s home opener in the Reilly Center, the rowdy energetic fans that make up the Bona faithful will come ready to erupt after every brown and white basket, and that impact may prove too much for CSUN to overcome.”
Tipoff for the game will be at 4 p.m and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
