Next Year Looking Better to Me

[Cassian]

Am I the only one who thinks we have a really interesting and quality team coming back next year? I see the emergence of Barry Evans, he is staying and I am sure, working hard. WIth Farrell, Venning, Banks and Luc, that is a compelling team. And with the current three newcomers hitting the floor this summer, the team is looking up. Now, with that said, it appears the entire A-10 is being upgraded making our in-conference efforts all the more difficult. Looking at SLU, UMESS, RI and a few others upgrading.

FWIW - I think Fordham was a bit of an anomaly and see a backslide there. Duquesne looks pretty good on paper too. Loyola? Richmond needs to reload. VCU is always good so...

Thoughts?

[proudbonnie89]

I think we will have a good team next year. I agree with your take on Barry, somewhere along the way he just lost his confidence last year and it impacted his entire game. I think he will look like a different player in 23/24. I think Farrell, Venning & Luc could all take big steps up this year. I believe Flowers and Banks are already productive and probably at their ceiling, but with the improvement of others and the addition of Charles Pride the floor may open up more for Daryl which could allow him to get more out of his skill set. I believe Pride is the real deal and will help us in all aspects, offensively, defensively, rebounding, leadership. I also think two true centers has the potential to be meaningful. A bigger 4 would be nice, but wondering if Barry may spend time at the 4 this year versus only playing the 3. I'm excited to see this team improve, the potential is there!

[1984bonas]

I see the same or worse actually

[u518370]

I think this team has a chance to be pretty good. By that, I mean compete for a double bye in the conference tournament and win 20+ games. Continuity counts for something and, unlike last year, this team will see a high % of their scoring return.

I know it's early (and we may see some additional roster changes), but here is my best guess on the rotation:

C Venning 30 minutes, Brown 10 minutes
PF Farrell 30 minutes, Evans 10 minutes
SF Pride 36 minutes, Flowers 4 minutes
SG Banks 24 minutes, Flowers 16 minutes (giving him 20 total)
PG Luc 28 minutes, Banks 12 minutes (giving him 36 total)

Miles Rose & Mel Martinez pushing to crack the rotation...but on the outside looking in for now.

Go Bonnies!

[pete's mom]

May 5, 2023 14:17:48 GMT -5 u518370 said:

I think this team has a chance to be pretty good. By that, I mean compete for a double bye in the conference tournament and win 20+ games. Continuity counts for something and, unlike last year, this team will see a high % of their scoring return.

I know it's early (and we may see some additional roster changes), but here is my best guess on the rotation:

C Venning 30 minutes, Brown 10 minutes
PF Farrell 30 minutes, Evans 10 minutes
SF Pride 36 minutes, Flowers 4 minutes
SG Banks 24 minutes, Flowers 16 minutes (giving him 20 total)
PG Luc 28 minutes, Banks 12 minutes (giving him 36 total)

Miles Rose & Mel Martinez pushing to crack the rotation...but on the outside looking in for now.

Go Bonnies!

If EVANS is only getting 10 minutes a game, I don't see him coming back for his junior year

[atlbonnie87]

May 5, 2023 14:47:23 GMT -5 pete's mom said:

May 5, 2023 14:17:48 GMT -5 u518370 said:

I think this team has a chance to be pretty good. By that, I mean compete for a double bye in the conference tournament and win 20+ games. Continuity counts for something and, unlike last year, this team will see a high % of their scoring return.

I know it's early (and we may see some additional roster changes), but here is my best guess on the rotation:

C Venning 30 minutes, Brown 10 minutes
PF Farrell 30 minutes, Evans 10 minutes
SF Pride 36 minutes, Flowers 4 minutes
SG Banks 24 minutes, Flowers 16 minutes (giving him 20 total)
PG Luc 28 minutes, Banks 12 minutes (giving him 36 total)

Miles Rose & Mel Martinez pushing to crack the rotation...but on the outside looking in for now.

Go Bonnies!

If EVANS is only getting 10 minutes a game, I don't see him coming back for his junior year

Not sure where else Evans is getting minutes. You’ve got 3 5th year seniors at the 2-3. Evans is behind all of them.

Team should be near 20 wins or more. Not sure what the guy who said we’d be worse is smoking. A-10 is way down and we return 5 starters and add a P5 caliber player and a quality A-10 backup. And then you can talk Evans. Team should be in conversation to win the league.

[bjif]

Just maybe the expectations of Luc were unrealistic. Take a look at his first 11 or 12 games in a Bonnies uniform and you will see double figures in every one.
Not sure if A10 speed and pace forced him to rush everything in conference play but with a year under his belt he should be a valuable member of our roster.

[towniegrad]

I am hoping Evans takes a big leap forward. He was a prized recruit and t here must be more for him.
I also would like to see one more recruit from NY C, Rah cha cha, Syracuse or Buffalo....sad to see a Bingo player leave...he will help someone else

[mattyice12]

Next year is absolutely looking better. Pride may be the best player on our team immediately. Looking for everyone else to make a leap as well.

As far as minutes go, history says they’ll be hard to come by. Assume Chad, Yann, Pride, Banks, Luc start. Flowers definitely get minutes. Brown gets backup center minutes. Maybe one more guy can crack it. Gotta assume it’s Evans, but they’ll be tough to come by.

College basketball landscape isn’t what it used to be. Guys working and growing into roles through four years isn’t the norm anymore . I think if Barry can grow his game, get a big stronger and stick around, his upside is tremendous. Reminds me of Denzel Gregg and Ladarien Griffin, but with an even higher ceiling.

[efsboca]

May 5, 2023 14:47:23 GMT -5 pete's mom said:

May 5, 2023 14:17:48 GMT -5 u518370 said:

I think this team has a chance to be pretty good. By that, I mean compete for a double bye in the conference tournament and win 20+ games. Continuity counts for something and, unlike last year, this team will see a high % of their scoring return.

I know it's early (and we may see some additional roster changes), but here is my best guess on the rotation:

C Venning 30 minutes, Brown 10 minutes
PF Farrell 30 minutes, Evans 10 minutes
SF Pride 36 minutes, Flowers 4 minutes
SG Banks 24 minutes, Flowers 16 minutes (giving him 20 total)
PG Luc 28 minutes, Banks 12 minutes (giving him 36 total)

Miles Rose & Mel Martinez pushing to crack the rotation...but on the outside looking in for now.

Go Bonnies!

If EVANS is only getting 10 minutes a game, I don't see him coming back for his junior year

One thing that always impressed me about Evans is his maturity, and his family. If he improves he can earn more minutes, but with the 5th year guys leaving, spots open up for him to start as a junior. In the meantime, his education is important to both him and the family. If he is improving, he will stay.

[fortytwo]

FWIW
Coach Schmidt seems to have adapted well to the new mid major NIL atmosphere.
Players that entered the portal got there chances to perform at pivotal points in the season.
In the majority of instances the level of team play faltered. I don't think any of them will be missed.
New players are being added to push the competition for playing time.
I think Coach Schmidt can create a recipe for success this off season with teaching and physical prep.
I am looking forward to see the result.

[fortytwo]

"their"

[bigcat]

It’s been forever since our roster has been 2-deep with legit A10 talent at every position. Think about it … Miles Rose was the PG on a prep national championship team and barely gets mentioned here.

Miles v. Luc will be a fascinating battle, with Banks possibly in the mix to take over that spot as well. Schmidt craves for PGs who can score while being a steadying influence on the floor. Luc has talent and athleticism but will need to regain the trust of the staff as a dependable leader.

With this beefed up roster our PG will have less pressure to be a scorer, which gives Schmidt more options.

Barry Evans is a hard-nosed, hard-working defensive minded kid who will need to scrap for every minute of PT. Perhaps his role will be our lock-down defender off the bench when needed.

Flowers averaged 9 PPG (11.3 in A10 games) and shot 37% from deep and likely will be our 6th man. He’s a proven “microwave” scorer but has a long road ahead to take (or keep) minutes away from Pride and Banks.

This will be a different type of coaching challenge for Mark. He never has been worried about keeping players content for the purpose of having them stick around. Coach’s style and strategy could evolve into one of deeper rotations and more physical defensive pressure — no longer concerned about starters getting into foul trouble.

I would assume Mark has had conversations with Flowers and Banks about their evolving roles for 2023-24. Do you want to be top scorers (BMOCs) who play 38 minutes a game on a mediocre A10 team … or win more and compete for a conference title and NCAA bid … and have the RC rocking during many big games? It’s a no brainer for those two who seem like mature, team-first guys.

Any signings we see now likely will be for the future. Who is going to join this roster and expect to contribute immediately with the portal entry deadline closing earlier this week.

How can next season NOT be better. It should be remarkably good and exciting!

[dadster81]

Quite a reload by our Coaching Staff
- Help at center? Check with an experienced big man
- Help at Scoring? Check with a rugged guard/wing senior
- Help at PF? Check with a frosh with upside from Putnam
- Help at PG? Check with a senior transfer from Cinci
- Add in another good frosh/wing - Check, from Putnam

[mnbonnie]

I didn't know what thread to post this on, put I thought it warranted a thumbs up to Chad. Chad, from I can tell is engaged in some type of big man training, or perhaps it's just Chad working out this past week with some individualized skill building help. The clip as less than a minute, I don't recognize the background, so I don't know if this is on campus or not, truth be told I've never been in the other rec center, I'm sure someone out there would. Anyway I couldn't get the short clip of Chad, putting in the time working on his post up game, if you'd like to take a glance, you can just check out SBU Unfurled's tweets within the last couple of hours and find it. Chad looks great. He looks a little quicker to me, but with do I really know. The point is simply that I believe to a man, this group is committed to improve. Look no further than the newest Bonnie's improvement on his shooting between his junior and senior year at Cincinnati, Mika improved his fg % by 9+ %, and his three ball % by almost 10+%, how? by putting in extra time. This might seem like a small thing, but if you're a solid player and can up your game, any little edge IMO, grabbing an additional board, hitting a higher percentage of your shots, when you can do this collectively, quite simply it gives you the chance to win more games. Tip of the hat to Chad, somebody just happened to get us a glimpse of his work this week.