Dale Bonner Could Be Baylor Bears' X Factor
When Dale Bonner transferred to Baylor from Division II Fairmont State last season, many people, including his coaches, thought he would redshirt. Instead, injuries to his teammates thrust him into a starting role late in the regular season, and this year he has taken his game up a notch. In the span of just a few months, Bonner has gone from an 'is he wearing a jersey under his warmup?' guy to one who could well be the x-factor on a team with Final Four ambitions.
Bonner has earned a reputation for being an unshakable guy on the defensive end and one who is all over the floor on the offensive end. Quite simply, he's a gnat. He's everything, everywhere, all at once.
Monday night's 95-62 victory over Northern Colorado solidified his gnat status once again, as he piled up 12 points on 5-6 shooting, pulled down four rebounds, dished out six assists, collected a game-high six steals and was a +28 in 23 minutes of action.
At one point in the second half, Bonner drove to the basket and missed a layup, his only miss of the game, only to then steal the outlet pass from the rebounder and go in for the easy bucket. He had three of his steals go for transition baskets, a huge reason why Baylor outscored Northern Colorado 28-4 in points off turnovers and why the bench outscored theirs 29-12.
Not only does he catch guys sleeping when he's on defense, but he always picks out the right guy with his passing. Coach Scott Drew called Bonner the "best ball mover in the country" which is going to allow him to eat up minutes behind Keyonte George and let better shooters like Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer play off the ball. In fact, there were plenty of times Monday night where Bonner and George were on the floor at the same time and the former was the one running the point.
His versatility on both sides of the ball reminds me a lot of someone like Marcus Smart in the NBA. Smart was a lottery pick which Bonner certainly will not be, but their games are eerily similar in terms of their tenacious defense, respectable scoring ability and sure-handedness running the offense.
Bonner isn't the best player on the team and won't reel in the awards come March, but he might be Baylor's most important player. Last season, injuries and therefore lack of depth ultimately sunk the Bears. This season, depth is one of their strengths and Bonner is a huge reason why.
Maybe I can best explain it by putting it this way: most teams in the Big 12, and a few teams with numbers next to their name, would love to have Bonner as their starting point guard. Baylor is so talented, they have him coming off the bench.
If Bonner and the Bears stay healthy, his energy and production off the bench could be exactly what the team needs to extend leads and finish off good teams all the way to Houston.
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