Adrian Wojnarowski's St Bonaventure Bonnies secure Russian prospect Ilia Ermakov, days after Achille Lonati's arrival

St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team received a commitment from top Russian star Ilia Ermakov on Thursday, a few days after Italian wing Achille Lonati joined the Bonnies.

The trend of EuroLeague development prospects switching to the NCAA appears to be growing stronger. Aleksa Dimitrijevic, Andrija Jelavic and David Mirkovic moved recently, signalling that more players were open to the move.

Now, Ermakov has followed suit, as his commitment to St. Bonaventure was announced on Thursday by his agents Alex Karavanen and Niko Filipovich, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.

The 6-foot-5 17-year-old Russian point guard is set to run the Bonnies’ backcourt in the Atlantic 10 with freshman Lonati, who is an 18-year-old 6-foot-5 Italian guard.

Ermakov played for CSKA Moscow in the second tier of Russia’s basketball league, where he averaged 12.6 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game this season.

Ermakov will have his complete four years of eligibility, giving him enough time to develop at the collegiate level.

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St. Bonaventure is not the only NCAA program exploring international talent, with the Illinois Fighting Illini also making moves from the same market.

The Bonnies are building a strong team with a plan of improving on the 22-12 record they posted this season. Despite that record being their best since 2022, Mark Schmidt’s team failed to make it to the NCAA men's tournament.

They also failed to make it past the first round of the NIT, where they were beaten 75-56 by Kent State.

Adrian Wojnarowski eager to land more European talents after Ilia Ermakov and Achille Lonati

The recent influx of international talent to the Bonnies has been attributed to the team’s general manager, Adrian Wojnarowski, who worked as ESPN's lead NBA insider in the past.

In the team’s press release for Lonati’s arrival, Wojnarowski revealed that the Bonnies are looking to recruit more from Europe.

“We are eager to extend our recruiting imprint into Europe and Achille represents an exciting first step for Bonnies basketball."

Lonati averaged 13.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 2.3 apg for Milan this campaign.

About the author

Babatunde Kolawole is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience in the field with Canoncrested.com, Garbersports.com, LiveScore Bet Nigeria and Pulse Sports Nigeria.

Kolawole studied Agricultural Economics on the tertiary level but delved into sports writing after school. Over half a decade later, the experience garnered helped him land this role.

Historically, the Alabama Crimson Tide stands out as Kolawole's favorite team as he was drawn to their rich history.

As for basketball, JuJu Watkins is Kolawole's favorite current player due to how much diversity she has in her game, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod for past players because of how he dominated with UCLA.

Kolawole has appeared on several TV and Radio shows as a guest analyst, and in his spare time, likes to watch movies (a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and listen to a lot of music. He also loves to travel.

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Edited by Victor R. Lopez M.