Dale Bonner is No. 6 in our Ohio State men's basketball preseason power rankings
Men’s basketball season is about to get underway, and it’s time to dive into the Ohio State roster.
After a 16-19 record that caused the Buckeyes to miss the postseason for the first time in coach Chris Holtmann’s six seasons with the program, Ohio State returns several key core players while adding a highly rated freshman class and a three-man transfer group all expected to make significant impacts.
To get ready for the season, The Dispatch is once again rolling out its annual preseason power rankings. Each day leading into the Nov. 6 season opener with Oakland, we will count upward while projecting which players will have the biggest roles on the 2023-24 season. This isn’t just a measurement of who will lead the team in any particular statistical category, but a series of educated guesses on which players’ contributions will go the longest way toward where the Buckeyes finish.
The series continues today with fifth-year guard Dale Bonner.
No. 6 – Dale Bonner
Position: Guard
Eligibility: Graduate transfer (zero remaining)
Height/weight: 6 feet 2 / 175 pounds
Jersey number: 4
Major: Sport coaching (masters)
Background
It’s been a significant, steady climb for Bonner. A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Bonner began his prep career on the junior varsity as a freshman before playing his way onto the varsity. As a senior, Bonner would average 18.4 points and earn second-team Division I all-state honors but not a Division I college scholarship. At a camp where he wasn’t the main target of the coaching staff, Bonner played well enough to earn a scholarship offer from Fairmont State, a Division II program in West Virginia.
Fairmont State was coached by Joe Mazzulla, who at age 35 is the current coach of the Boston Celtics. Bonner did not appear in the 247Sports.com rankings as a high school player. Bonner redshirted his first year before averaging 17.8 points in 2019-20 and 21.2 in 2020-21 and earning a scholarship offer from Baylor.
Bonner transferred to the Bears in 2021 and spent two seasons there, averaging 3.9 points, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 18.3 minutes per game while taking on the role of a complementary player. With one year of eligibility remaining, Bonner transferred to his home state and signed with the Buckeyes. 247Sports ranked him as a three-star transfer and the No. 177 player in his transfer class.
2022-23 season recap
Bonner’s second season at Baylor saw a slight uptick in every statistical category. As his minutes went from 17.3 per game in 2021-22 to 19.4 in 2022-23, his scoring climbed from 3.1 points to 4.7, his assists from 1.5 to 2.7, his steals from 0.9 to 1.4, his 3-point shooting percentage from .192 to .372 and his field-goal percentage from .337 to .441. Those numbers came while playing in a backcourt that also included first-round NBA draft pick Keyonte George and all-Big 12 guard LJ Cryer. The year prior, Bonner played with first-team all-Big 12 guard James Akinjo.
According to KenPom.com, Bonner’s assist rate of 24.9% was 194th in the nation and his steal percentage of 4.2% was 27th best in the nation. No Ohio State player has posted a steal percentage that high since Aaron Craft was at 4.5% in 2013-14. Bonner left Baylor as one of five players with multiple games of six or more steals.
Bonner finished the season with his most productive stretch. After a 12-game span where he didn’t see any action in five games and totaled 32 minutes of playing time, 18 of which were in one game, Bonner played at least 20 minutes in Baylor’s final six games and averaged 8.5 points. His 51 points in six games were 37.5% of his season scoring total.
In all, Bonner had six double-digit scoring games including a career-high 15 points in a 74-68 win at Oklahoma State on Feb. 27. He also dished out a career-high 12 assists in an 89-60 home win against McNeese State on Nov. 23.
He committed to Ohio State after having taken an official visit to campus, canceling planned trips to Tulane, Notre Dame, Akron and Minnesota.
Need to know
Bonner played in all four NCAA Tournament games with Baylor during the last two seasons, giving him the most March Madness experience on this year’s Ohio State roster. Last season, he had his own unofficial fan club within the Baylor pep band. Bonner has played one game against a Big Ten foe. During his first year at Baylor, Bonner was on the court for four minutes of a 75-58 win against Michigan State in the Battle 4 Atlantis and had one point.
His name is emblazoned on Shaker Heights’ “All-Ohio Wall” for having made the all-state team as a senior. Bonner recorded a video talking about his mental health that was released in conjunction with Ohio State’s charity exhibition game at Dayton.
Bonner received votes from his teammates for best passer in the Dispatch's annual preseason poll.
2023-24 season outlook
Since his arrival at Ohio State, Bonner has impressed his teammates with his speed and defensive ability. Coach Chris Holtmann has called him the fastest player the Buckeyes have had during his seven years with the program, and Bonner credited his father, who used to run track, for helping him develop his quickness.
“Dale’s been really impressive in the preseason,” Holtmann said Oct. 10 at Big Ten media day in Minneapolis. “Dale’s speed and quickness and shooting, and he can defend, have been a really good thing.”
The expectation is that Bonner will play roughly 20 minutes a game, possibly more, and take on a more pronounced offensive role than what he did at Baylor. Against Dayton, he played 26:01, second-most on the roster, and went 1 for 6 from the floor for 4 points with four steals, three rebounds, three assists and four turnovers. In the “secret” scrimmage against Clemson, Bonner started, scored 12 points and played more than 27 minutes.
He will see playing time in the backcourt alongside and in place sophomores Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr. as the Buckeyes plan to utilize three-guard lineups to take advantage of Bonner’s skill set. His speed, though, has drawn the most talk.
“You see it every day,” Penn State transfer Evan Mahaffey said. “You turn around for too long and he’s at the rim. It’s great to see. It’s great to have. To me, pushing the tempo a little bit has always made it more fun. And it gets a lot of easy buckets.”
Expect Bonner to be a prominent member of the rotation. His veteran presence should help steady Thornton and Gayle as they assume more significant roles in their second seasons, and his two years of experience in the grueling Big 12 should mean that he is battle-tested and ready to help the Buckeyes try to climb back toward the upper reaches of the Big Ten standings. That will be needed especially as freshman guard Taison Chatman works to return from a preseason knee surgery that figures to sideline him until late November.
After an Oct. 19 open practice at Value City Arena, Bonner was asked what had most surprised him about this year’s team to that point of the preseason.
“The ceiling we have this year,” he said. “I think we’re gonna shock a lot of people and we’re gonna have a good season.”
If so, Bonner will have played a hand in getting the Buckeyes there.
Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy
Additional reading
How did Dale Bonner go from junior varsity to Ohio State?
Ohio State's Chris Holtmann on Baylor's Dale Bonner: 'Fastest player we've coached here'
With roster set, here are 13 thoughts on Ohio State's 13 scholarship players
Previous power rankings
No. 7: Evan Mahaffey
No. 8: Scotty Middleton
No. 9: Devin Royal
No. 10: Taison Chatman
No. 11: Austin Parks
No. 12: Bowen Hardman
No. 13: Kalen Etzler
No. 14: Owen Spencer
No. 15: Colby Baumann
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Buckeyes preseason power rankings: No. 6 Dale Bonner
