A J VASQUEZ enters portal

[mcspin]

This is a problem for the NCAA, not just Schmidt. Currently, their rules have caused most of this. They make transferring easy and painless, so why wouldn't a kid who thinks he will play more somewhere else leave? Obviously, this is happening with most teams, even ones where the bench gets more playing time. Add in the fact that players are not only competing against the normal 4-year player but now every 4th-year player qualifies for a 5th year, which means even less playing time for a bench guy. There are positives for the team. It gives us the opportunity to improve the bench talent since we'll have more players to recruit. Keep in mind, lots of players get recruited to the wrong level or don't adjust well to college ball. This gives them the opportunity to find a better fit. I don't view this as something that harms Bonas more than our competition.

[agoo]

The eased NCAA rules around transferring are probably the only change the NCAA has gotten right for the student athletes that I can remember.

[bigdobber]

Definitely agree about the NCAA making it easy and painless to transfer. What you are also seeing with our program is the step to the next level. Kids are getting over recruited. I love that we had a starting 5 of all Juniors but it's made a log jam at the top for minutes. I expect Mark will have 4 yr recruits as a top priority for this season. I would think if you told a kid it's wide open in 2022-2023 that would be a selling point. And there is a good chance you'll be in the NCAA tourney your freshman year is another good selling point. I don't expect any of the starters will stick around for the extra year... I also think the next group will be a higher recruit based on our rising program. Mark Schmidt is showing everyone how to build a successful program and the bs that you can't recruit to Olean is being proven wrong. I hope he stays for another 10 yrs.

[efsboca]

Mar 25, 2021 7:23:34 GMT -5 bigdobber said:

Definitely agree about the NCAA making it easy and painless to transfer. What you are also seeing with our program is the step to the next level. Kids are getting over recruited. I love that we had a starting 5 of all Juniors but it's made a log jam at the top for minutes. I expect Mark will have 4 yr recruits as a top priority for this season. I would think if you told a kid it's wide open in 2022-2023 that would be a selling point. And there is a good chance you'll be in the NCAA tourney your freshman year is another good selling point. I don't expect any of the starters will stick around for the extra year... I also think the next group will be a higher recruit based on our rising program. Mark Schmidt is showing everyone how to build a successful program and the bs that you can't recruit to Olean is being proven wrong. I hope he stays for another 10 yrs.

They need to bring in at least 4 freshman who they can build up and may get some time but the ability to compete as sophomores. Then they need to either bring in a grad transfer who is ok being a back up but wants a tourney visit, or a couple 2-3 year transfers. Problem is they no doubt did not expect the defections from 3 back ups this year, so they were probably not looking at a lot of recruits early. Playing catch up in the recruiting game is difficult.

[wgt]

Will miss AJ not reaching his potential at Bona.

fjs64, myself and a classmate and long time friend of Tom Stith met AJ out side The Barclays when he was a senior at TPS. When I spotted AJ walking with Winston I yelled out "There's the Queens kid." He stopped and looked back with a wide smile. We talked to both. You could see that AJ was proud that a Bona fan knew who he was when he was just being recruited by Bona at the time.

When he transferred to TPS from John Bowne HS in Queens he was one of NYC's top scorers as a soph. He told us he was definitely coming to Bona. About a month or 2 after that chance meeting he committed. He did enjoy Bona and his teammates. He was always impressed with the passion of Bona fans everywhere. Wish him the very best.

I have seen a few posts indicating he turned it over a lot. Not so. He had only 5 turnovers in all 13 conference games he played in (with 1 start). That's 1 turn over every 33 mins compared to Dom every 17 mins, HOLMES every 19 mins, OSUN every 19 mins, Roberts every 11 mins and KYLE every 14 mins. PGs often have the most TOs on a team. ADAWAY was golden with one every 37 mins.

[proudbonnie89]

Not surprised but definitely disappointed. He is just too talented a player/scorer to spend that much time on the bench. If he had been forced to play 30 minutes a game for an extended period of time he would have gotten acclimated with game action and become much more consistent, which would have complimented his explosive scoring ability. The problem, he was the 6th best player on the team and Schmidt loves the cohesiveness of that top 5.

AJ is going to turn heads wherever he ends up next. He will be a 15-20 point per game scorer. I hate losing him, but with his talent level he deserves a chance to be "the guy" somewhere. He just wasn't going to have that role at Bonas next year. Tough loss but we will be OK and AJ will be OK. Good luck to him, he is one former Bonnie that I will definitely be rooting for!

[bigcat]

Mar 25, 2021 8:18:42 GMT -5 wgt said:

Will miss AJ not reaching his potential at Bona.

fjs64, myself and a classmate and long time friend of Tom Stith met AJ out side The Barclays when he was a senior at TPS. When I spotted AJ walking with Winston I yelled out "There's the Queens kid." He stopped and looked back with a wide smile. We talked to both. You could see that AJ was proud that a Bona fan knew who he was when he was just being recruited by Bona at the time.

When he transferred to TPS from John Bowne HS in Queens he was one of NYC's top scorers as a soph. He told us he was definitely coming to Bona. About a month or 2 after that chance meeting he committed. He did enjoy Bona and his teammates. He was always impressed with the passion of Bona fans everywhere. Wish him the very best.

I have seen a few posts indicating he turned it over a lot. Not so. He had only 5 turnovers in all 13 conference games he played in (with 1 start). That's 1 turn over every 33 mins compared to Dom every 17 mins, HOLMES every 19 mins, OSUN every 19 mins, Roberts every 11 mins and KYLE every 14 mins. PGs often have the most TOs on a team. ADAWAY was golden with one every 37 mins.

Wonder if AJ will land at Robert Morris with his buddy?

[2fal4life]

Mar 25, 2021 9:31:01 GMT -5 bigcat said:

Mar 25, 2021 8:18:42 GMT -5 wgt said:

Will miss AJ not reaching his potential at Bona.

fjs64, myself and a classmate and long time friend of Tom Stith met AJ out side The Barclays when he was a senior at TPS. When I spotted AJ walking with Winston I yelled out "There's the Queens kid." He stopped and looked back with a wide smile. We talked to both. You could see that AJ was proud that a Bona fan knew who he was when he was just being recruited by Bona at the time.

When he transferred to TPS from John Bowne HS in Queens he was one of NYC's top scorers as a soph. He told us he was definitely coming to Bona. About a month or 2 after that chance meeting he committed. He did enjoy Bona and his teammates. He was always impressed with the passion of Bona fans everywhere. Wish him the very best.

I have seen a few posts indicating he turned it over a lot. Not so. He had only 5 turnovers in all 13 conference games he played in (with 1 start). That's 1 turn over every 33 mins compared to Dom every 17 mins, HOLMES every 19 mins, OSUN every 19 mins, Roberts every 11 mins and KYLE every 14 mins. PGs often have the most TOs on a team. ADAWAY was golden with one every 37 mins.

Wonder if AJ will land at Robert Morris with his buddy?

That is certainly my initial guess until I see otherwise.

[tastylicks]

If he stuck around he would've gotten 40 mins a game as a senior in 2022-2023

[bostonbona]

Vasquez shot 28 percent and made me nervous when he handled the ball. I liked his aggressiveness but let’s not overestimate his effectiveness. His defense wasn’t anything special. We definitely need a scorer off the bench but he will be easier to replace than Shaw. Schmidt and his assistants need to find roles for subs. I think he might have anticipated one or two transfers. Still don’t know why we can’t sign more recruits in early signing period.

[agoo]

Mar 25, 2021 10:17:55 GMT -5 bostonbona said:

Vasquez shot 28 percent and made me nervous when he handled the ball. I liked his aggressiveness but let’s not overestimate his effectiveness. His defense wasn’t anything special. We definitely need a scorer off the bench but he will be easier to replace than Shaw. Schmidt and his assistants need to find roles for subs. I think he might have anticipated one or two transfers. Still don’t know why we can’t sign more recruits in early signing period.

My working theory is that the level of recruit we're looking at is hoping to land P5 offers once their guys transfer and declare to go pro.

[Deleted]

I think people need to realize that the days of the four year recruit might be numbered. Very rarely are you going to have a Ladarien Griffin or Dion Wright who is going to sit for the first year or two and develop into a great player. Look at our 3 current players who started at Bonas. Osun, Lofton, and Welch all played significant minutes as freshmen. The new reality is players want to play immediately, if they don't they are going to leave. Instead of criticizing Schmidt maybe we should be happy that he and his staff have embraced the new reality? Bringing in players like Holmes and Adaway is what you need to do if you want to do things like win the Atlantic 10. Vasquez and Winston are absolutely justified in leaving if they want to. The staff is justified in bringing in quality players that might be better than those that are here. You can compete or you can go elsewhere. I know this sounds a little harsh, but if we are going to continue to have the success we have had this is what needs to happen.

[Chuck]

Mar 25, 2021 9:41:25 GMT -5 tastylicks said:

If he stuck around he would've gotten 40 mins a game as a senior in 2022-2023

A young player could have made this assumption in the past, but not now with so many players transferring. Now we are seeing players transferring in their senior year. We are starting to see players attend 3 different schools during their career. I easily can see a player attend 4 different schools in his 4 years. A young player can't take anything for granted. Player development will suffer with all the transferring. I question if saving a scholarship in the back pocket is still viable with all the transferring in the game today.

[Chuck]

I agree with WGT and Boston with their comments about there being misconceptions of AJ's game.

WGT's "I have seen a few posts indicating he turned it over a lot. Not so."
-- AJ made impressive progress with his turnover rate this year. Last year AJ had Bonnies worse turnover rate at 2.9 turnovers per 40 minutes played. This year AJ had the best turnover rate at 0.6 for 40 minutes.

Boston's "I liked his aggressiveness but let’s not overestimate his effectiveness."
-- Last year AJ was instant offense off the bench. He was 2nd in 15.6 points per 40 minutes. This year he is 6th at 13.0 points per 40 minutes.
-- AJ had a significant drop off in his shooting percentages. From the field AJ went 41.8% to just 28.3% this year.

I think AJ made significant gains in defense. I understand AJ wanting to transfer. With a depleted bench AJ sees less playing time then he received as a freshman. I agree with Boston's feelings about Shaw. I thought Shaw was a quality big and it might be difficult to find a replacement with Shaw's skills.

[gregmitch70]

Mar 25, 2021 11:46:11 GMT -5 Chuck said:

I agree with WGT and Boston with their comments about there being misconceptions of AJ's game.

WGT's "I have seen a few posts indicating he turned it over a lot. Not so."
-- AJ made impressive progress with his turnover rate this year. Last year AJ had Bonnies worse turnover rate at 2.9 turnovers per 40 minutes played. This year AJ had the best turnover rate at 0.6 for 40 minutes.

Boston's "I liked his aggressiveness but let’s not overestimate his effectiveness."
-- Last year AJ was instant offense off the bench. He was 2nd in 15.6 points per 40 minutes. This year he is 6th at 13.0 points per 40 minutes.
-- AJ had a significant drop off in his shooting percentages. From the field AJ went 41.8% to just 28.3% this year.

I think AJ made significant gains in defense. I understand AJ wanting to transfer. With a depleted bench AJ sees less playing time then he received as a freshman. I agree with Boston's feelings about Shaw. I thought Shaw was a quality big and it might be difficult to find a replacement with Shaw's skills.

Let's take a  simple  poll here:    "Would you be happy at the end of next year if Schmidt  now finds a 6th man who ends up shooting 28% and  playing mediocre defense--yes or no?"