Past history suggests a very special season

[Chuck]

Past history suggests this will be a very special season. This team has something in common with Schmidt's 3 very special teams.

-- 2012 Andrew's NCAA team. Leading scorer returns and Schmidt had to replace just 1 starter and this was Ogo.
-- 2016 team had 22 wins, which is the 2nd most for Schmidt at Bonas. Leading scorer returns and Schmidt had to replace 2 starters. 3rd and 4 leading scorers Youssou and Cumberbatch.
-- 2018 team had 26 wins and made it to NCAA Tournament. Leading scorer returns and Schmidt had to replace 2 starters. 3rd and 4th leading scorers Gregg and Andoh.

Every other team since 2012 lost 2 or more starters and also one of the starters was the leading scorer.

Leading scorer, who had to be replaced.
-- 2013 team replace Andrew.
-- 2014 team Conger.
-- 2015 team Matt Wright.
-- 2017 team Posley.
-- 2019 team Jaylen.
-- 2020 team Stockard.

2021 team returns its leading scorer (Kyle) and its entire starting lineup. Every starter returning is a first for Schmidt at Bona. So past history points to a very special season for the Bonnies.

With the Bonnies returning their starting 5, I was wondering what does Schmidt need from recruiting. With Schmidt's history of using a short bench, I do not see many needs.

-- PG has Kyle and Jaren as a backup. Kyle was injured in the Duquense game and Jaren looked great replacing Kyle at the point. Bonnies could use another PG, but he would have to be really good to move ahead of Jaren at PG.
-- SG is set with Jaren and AJ (Bonnies 2nd leading scorer at 15.6 points per 40 minutes). Also have an unknown with Jalen Adaway.
-- SF is set with Dom and AJ. Again we have an unknown with Adaway.

Post is the only position I see as a need for the Bonnies. All set with Osun and Justin (Bonnies leading scorer at 17.2 points per 40 minutes). I hope Rob Carpenter can be the backup, but we honestly do not know. Like Adaway, Metcalf is an unknown. I think the biggest need and honestly the only need is a backup in the post.

For me Louth Coulibaly would be a great fit.

www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/st-bonaventure/

[ohs73]

A shooter and a banger. That's who the Bonnies should target.

[bigcat]

Adaway an unknown? I would say he is a good bet to be a key contributor off the bench next season. The kid was a solid player in the MAC for two years seasons. As a sophomore, shooting 50% from the floor and 34% from behind the arc, up from 26% as a frosh.

He is a high IQ, high level athlete with good size who didn’t reach his potential at Miami. He took 6 shots a game and averaged 8 pts, and had 13 games with 12+ pts over 2 seasons. Sometimes he was passive on offense or did not seem comfortable with his teammates and coaches.

With a year to learn our system, improve his outside shot and bond with his teammates, I would expect Jalen to fit in nicely ... likely taking time from Vasquez and also playing some at the 3. There are not a lot of minutes to be had with all starters back but JA improves the bench and will be good insurance.

[Chuck]

Solid post Big Cat.

-- UNLV transfer Jalen Poyser is evidence a player is an unknown until he starts playing games with the Bonnies. He was the 3rd leading scorer at UNLV, Top 100 4 star recruit, Co-MVP of the Bio Steel All Star Game with Jamal Murray (2nd leading scorer of the Denver Nuggets), Canada's #2 ranked player (Jamal Murray #1). Prior to playing, Schmidt said Poyser was a starter and he was an opening day starter. Poyser is the definition of a known player, but sadly he was an unknown.
-- Jaren English was an unknown, which is shown by Bonnies being his only D-1 scholarship offer. He was Bonnies 2nd leading scorer during conference games.

Poyser and Jaren have taught me transfers are an unknown, except for Kevin Houston. We heard stories about Kevin being a man against boys during practices. I have not heard the same stories about Jalen Adaway. Your comment about Jalen taking time away from AJ might be true, as Jalen is much more of a small forward. Again Jalen is an unknown while we know AJ was a talented scorer as a freshman. AJ's 15.6 points per 40 minutes was the 2nd highest on the team. Really impressive for a freshman. Jalen is a talented player if he takes minutes away from AJ, but then again this is unknown. Thanks Big Cat as I enjoy intelligent discussions, especially with views different from mine.

Jalen Adaway's extreme athleticism is a known. Check out his dunk from attached video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=83IK6Sykznc

[Sipowicz]

A question I have, is ROBERT CARPENTER. Going forward, what will ROBERT's role be? Will ROBERT even be a factor going forward? If he is, will this effect which of the bigs the staff is going after? The big prospects all kind of seem to have different skill sets.

[bonawolf02]

It would behoove AJ to go all out on ball handling work outs this off season. If he can develop into a trusted ball handler & distributor, that's how he's going to combat the competition & concern of playing time as the primary 2nd ball handler to Kyle along with playing a bit at the 2. I know Jaren did a fine job when pressed into ball handling duties, however he's most effective playing the 2 creating a scenario where he and Jalen are interchangeable providing coach the flexibility to go with the hot hand during games. I also think adding in the Jalen option at the 2 makes this team a bit more athletic and one that can get out in transition a bit more.

[Chuck]

Apr 3, 2020 9:32:54 GMT -5 Sipowicz said:

The big prospects all kind of seem to have different skill sets.

Out of prep school, I think Abou and Prince have similar games while Louth is completely different.

Watching film and reading about their games.
-- Abou and Prince have much more developed post game. I think Abou's post game out of prep school is more developed than Prince at a similar time. They both appear to have a 15 foot jump shot. Both are strong rebounders. Abou is the higher recruit out of school.
-- Louth does not have the developed post game of Abou and Prince. Abou looks more impressive taking the ball to the basket on drives. Louth is an explosive big man, while Abou and Prince do not have Louth's athleticism. Really like North Pole's Tariq Sbiet tweet "6'9 Louth Coulibaly is TOP big man in the Nation."

As Sipo says they "seem to have different skill sets" with Louth's being completely different.

[Chuck]

Bonawolf02 correctly mentions AJ needs to improve his ball handling. AJ also needs to improve his man defense. I thought AJ progressively improved his man defense, but it remains something he needs to work on during the off season, along with his ball handling. Overall I think AJ had a successful freshman season. Future looks bright for AJ.

[kcSBU03]

The one thing that is not accounted for here is toughness. I dont recall a team that is as good as ours was but got blasted so many times. VCU, Davidson, SLU were all games that were over early and they just went into a shell. Then we had the MTSU, FAU and first Mason game where they got punched early but came back. Those were all poor teams though. Transitioning from Soph to Juniors is usually the biggest leap so I think that will help but I was a lot more confident in this group until the finish of the season went completely south. This is also the only team I can remember that hit a wall at the end. We always see our Bonnies get better and peak in February but after the Richmond game it was all downhill. I still expect us to contend for the A10 next year and be a bubble/NIT team but it is not as certain as it was in 2018.

[trout95]

I've had similar thoughts. Add to that, many of the top A10 teams return most of their strength, which in theory, washes out the additional year experience. We're still generally younger than those teams which equates to an equally tough season next year, but then a truly very special season to follow.

This doesn't allow for new acquisitions or contributions from already signed players. This also doesn't account for what is hopefully a healthy start to OOC play.

[proudbonnie89]

I expect big things out of Adaway and AJ. I expect even bigger things from Shoon! With a limited off season due to shoulder surgery and then a knee that was never quite right he gutted his way through a very challenging season and was still good enough to make All-A10 3rd Team and All Defensive team. He deserves a ton of credit for last year and with a good and healthy off season will be an absolute beast next year.

Our Top 7 guys are going to make up a very tough team to play with a lot of versatility and if Rob Carpenter takes a big Freshman to Sophomore step we could be even tougher. As we have seen in the past, anything can happen, but my thoughts are that this team will be Top 25 votes good and with a little luck, Top 25 good. Our three Sophomores and redshirt Junior will be really important in determining how realistic my opinion is.

[mnbonnie]

I think one of the dimensions that Adaway brings, or at least hope he brings, is the ability to create, to put the ball on the floor, take it to the basket or pull up or pass. Aside from Kyle and Jaren, we seemed to lack that ability. AJ has shown some signs of this ability as well, if he indeed does work on his ball handling, that will open up his game. Dom made some progress in this area as well, but Neds to continue to work on finishing. I think Justin also can continue to enlarge his game, again with ball handling. He seems to have a knack for getting to the basket that will be enhanced with better ball skills. I am hoping we get to see more of Carpenter, as a forward then as a center. I am way ahead of myself, but in watching Jeremiah Williams, he seems to have that ability to create as well. I was trying to the think of the other Simeon player, who exhibited that "toughness" element and it was Kendall Pollard, who played with Dayton a couple years back.

As far as a big goes, very different skill sets says it all. I would love to have Oduro, if he is eligible, as opposed to having to sit a year. As I noted in another post he/we many not know that until a ruling on his waiver request, if he's filed it with the NCAA, is ruled on. No question that he is an "out of the box/plug and play guy". He saw very little pt at Miss St, but I'm sure got some good experience banging with their bigs. Abou, reminds me a lit bit more like Isaac Kante, who we wanted out of PSA, choose Georgia, sat pretty much and then transferred to Hofstra, both big guys, I saw Kante play in the CAA tournament and he really gives Hofstra a lift. I think Abou would be that same type of player. Louth however is my guy, in this coming year it would be a little bit of a feeling out process, but I think he would blend so well with the team we have or think we have. I think Louth can play against another teams big, but he can also get out and run the floor. I could be wrong, but he just seems to have the physical and metntal assets to be a really good player for us. There are minutes here for any one of the three. I would be happy to add any one of this group.

Fingers crossed.

[jh]

Apr 3, 2020 13:08:39 GMT -5 kcSBU03 said:

The one thing that is not accounted for here is toughness. I dont recall a team that is as good as ours was but got blasted so many times. VCU, Davidson, SLU were all games that were over early and they just went into a shell. Then we had the MTSU, FAU and first Mason game where they got punched early but came back. Those were all poor teams though. Transitioning from Soph to Juniors is usually the biggest leap so I think that will help but I was a lot more confident in this group until the finish of the season went completely south. This is also the only team I can remember that hit a wall at the end. We always see our Bonnies get better and peak in February but after the Richmond game it was all downhill. I still expect us to contend for the A10 next year and be a bubble/NIT team but it is not as certain as it was in 2018.

Amen - its our top need by far - front court size and toughness - lets hope we address this big time.!!!

[tastylicks]

Apr 3, 2020 15:03:06 GMT -5 jh said:

Apr 3, 2020 13:08:39 GMT -5 kcSBU03 said:

The one thing that is not accounted for here is toughness. I dont recall a team that is as good as ours was but got blasted so many times. VCU, Davidson, SLU were all games that were over early and they just went into a shell. Then we had the MTSU, FAU and first Mason game where they got punched early but came back. Those were all poor teams though. Transitioning from Soph to Juniors is usually the biggest leap so I think that will help but I was a lot more confident in this group until the finish of the season went completely south. This is also the only team I can remember that hit a wall at the end. We always see our Bonnies get better and peak in February but after the Richmond game it was all downhill. I still expect us to contend for the A10 next year and be a bubble/NIT team but it is not as certain as it was in 2018.

Amen - its our top need by far - front court size and toughness - lets hope we address this big time.!!!

Perfect niche for a grad transfer to fill

[fjs64]

The RIGHT grad transfer can add the toughness, plus we get the scholarship back to use for the next year.