By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The first year of the Woj era at St. Bonaventure is officially in the books.
After making his national headline-grabbing move to his alma mater prior to last season, ESPN’s former NBA Insider, Adrian Wojnarowski, spent the greater part of the year out of the spotlight. But there was a good reason for doing so.
He didn’t want to be the story. He wanted to help his beloved Bonnies make the headlines themselves.
From the corners of the Reilly Center, obscured from the eyesight of the Bona faithful, he watched, analyzed and began plotting what he could do to help coach Mark Schmidt and his staff succeed in the modern era of college basketball. First, he had to learn exactly how to do that.
“There was a lot of learning last year about how the staff and I work together,” Wojnarowski said. “I’m learning about evaluation and who can play for us, and who fits here. … Bonaventure is not for everybody, but for guys who are gym rats, who are about getting better, who don’t want or need distractions, we’re the right place. So, we got to find those guys, and then we’ve got to work to keep them. … Hopefully my job is to make Mark’s job easier and to take things off his plate that allows him to focus, especially during the season, on the team and the group and coaching.”
After a year of traveling the globe, scouting, talking to agents and getting to know players, Woj officially has a roster of his own. One that not only addresses the holes that became apparent in last year’s squad, but also stays true to the Bonaventure way. The Schmidt way.
But bringing together nearly an entire team had its challenges. Woj’s name carries more weight than just about any college GM in the business, but in a time in which money is the ultimate difference maker, he still needed to be creative in the way that he recruited.
“In this era, where it can feel very transient, we need it to resonate with them,” Wojnarowski said. “Retention is a lot of things, it can be financial, it can be playing time, it could be role. You have guys who want to stay, and we want them, but they want a different role, they want to play positionally, they want to play somewhere else, and it doesn’t fit our team. It isn’t always just, ‘I want to stay,’ or ‘I don’t want to stay.’ It’s a conversation on lots of pieces. We’ve got to get high-major players for mid-major-plus money right now. … We’ve got to spend our money wisely, spend our resources wisely, and find value in the marketplace.”
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball General Manager Adrian Wojnarowski is honored at the Basketball Hall of Fame for receiving the Curt Gowdy Insight Award. (Photo via @hoophall on Instagram)
The Bonnies return just four players from last year’s roster, with Dasonte Bowen and Xander Wedlow the only two that played substantial minutes. So, for his first year as GM, Woj basically had a blank canvas. He just had to find the right players to complete the picture. Players that not only had skill and talent that may be undervalued, but ones that embodied the spirit of Bona.
“Where our environment is especially appealing is there’s no distractions,” Wojnarowski said. “You’re not going out, there’s no clubs to go out to, you’re not going over to the beach. You’re either doing your work academically, or you’re in the gym, working,” Wojnarowski said. “This is why guys get better here, have gotten better here. … With these guys, I mean, there’s plenty of nights where I’m telling guys, ‘enough,’ ‘go back,’ ‘there’s no reason to do a third workout.’ … I feel at times, we’re trying to throw guys out of the gym. That’s the mentality we wanted, that’s what Bonaventure basketball has been built on.”
Last season, one of the most glaring deficiencies with the team was its shooting. Schmidt commented on his team’s woes hitting the deep shots multiple times throughout the previous campaign, and in fact, only two Bona players shot above a 30% from 3-point range last season while taking at least 15 attempts: Lajae Jones and Jonah Hinton.
This was an area Woj clearly addressed in the offseason. But not only did he bring in shooters, he focused on getting players that are versatile, allowing for a faster style of basketball with an emphasis on ball movement. Woj likened what he’s seen so far in the limited time the team has had on the court to the European style. Fitting, considering two of the Bonnies’ guards that are set to play a big role this season come from across the pond.
“It’s really hard to win the game in this era of basketball without being able to shoot the 3-point shot, and I think people will see an offense where there’s a lot of spacing,” Wojnarowski said. “It’s a group of very willing passers. Seeing when the guys are playing pickup with each other, the ball is moving. … For the international players, our style is very similar to what they’re used to, which is a lot of ball screen, not a lot of isolation. We have guys who know how to play without the ball, away from the ball, who know how to cut and screen and so I think they’re going to pick things up really fast.”
Former team co-captain and major personality Melvin Council Jr. fell just 0.1% off that 30% mark, and very well may have surpassed that threshold if it were not for the early-season injury that saw Bowen stuck on the bench for the majority of the season. But that in and of itself speaks to another major issue that Bona faced last season, and another that Woj admittedly focused on heavily.
The Bonnies’ injury crisis started with Bowen, but by the time the postseason rolled around, the healthy options Schmidt had were extremely limited, enough so that there were questions as to whether or not they would accept a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bid, if one came along.
Of course, injuries are unpredictable, but if there is one way to try and combat how much an injury affects a team, it is making sure there is quality in its depth. Woj’s plentiful rolodex of contacts throughout the world was a major aspect of him taking the role of GM. Those contacts have culminated in three European talents coming stateside to join his Bonnies. The first of which being Achille Lonati. Having previously played for Olimpia Milano, and even more recently, having helped the Italian national team secure a bronze medal in the U-18 EuroBasket Tournament, Woj anticipates his level of professionalism making a big impact on the floor.
“(Lonati) very much comes with a pro mindset,” Wojnarowski said. “He’s out early, stretching and jumping rope and preparing and taking care of his body. I walked into their facility in Milan, and it’s a pro environment. He’s played there since he was 11, on the great Milan teams and then (on Italy’s) national team. … He wasn’t always, necessarily, the most celebrated player on any of those teams, but always the guy who hit the big shots in big games, he brought everybody together, the glue guy.”
Another European talent set to don the brown and white this season, who Woj vouched has the experience to play at a high level despite his age is Russian guard Ilia Ermakov. A product of CSKA Moscow II, Ermakov reportedly turned down several high-major opportunities to join the Bonnies.
“He was playing against 25, 30-year-old guys, he just turned 18 in August. He’s just got a maturity about him,” Wojnarowski said. “You want to bring in players from winning environments and environments where there’s very much a professional mindset, because, let’s be honest, we’ve professionalized college basketball. Guys are making money with rev-share, and with that comes responsibility and we need them ready to play right away.”
Former St. Bonaventure men’s basketball co-captain Noel Brown (24) flies to the rim amidst a number of Duquesne defenders. (Taylor Komidar)
But younger, skilled foreign players were not the only names filling out Woj’s offseason shortlist. He had sights on players within the union as well. The tricky aspect of that, however, was that he needed to look where others were not, or where they were not looking hard enough.
That is how he came across Darryl “Buddy” Simmons II.
Woj has lauded Simmons as one of the most efficient players on the roster and noted how it was, frankly, a shock that he got so overlooked. At 5-11, he plays with a chip on his shoulder, bringing a similar type of attitude and swagger to his game that Council Jr. provided the Bonnies last season.
“(Buddy) was not recruited as heavily looking back as he should have been out of high school,” Wojnarowski said. “He produced at a really high level last year at Gardner-Webb … and he was really hungry to play here. … He sets a great example with our guys. He can score, but he also can play-make for his teammates. And I’ve told him, ‘at that size you should be a 94-foot menace on defense, too.’ And he’s capable of that. He brings a great spirit to the team.”
But guards were far from the only position Bona needed over the summer. Woj not only supplied the team’s roster with versatile shooters, but also restocked the depleted number of big men in the team after former co-captain Noel Brown, who is now playing professionally in Bulgaria, graduated from the program after last season.
“Having guards and having bigs (is crucial), and we were shallow in both areas last year,” Wojnarowski said. “We ran out of guys by the end of the year. By the time we played the NIT game, we were really limited. … If you’re going to win, you need a lot of different guys that contribute. And I think, up front, (our bigs) give us a lot of versatility. Frank (Mitchell), Xander (Wedlow), Joe (Grahovac) … and Andrew (Osasuyi). … So yeah, Coach definitely has more options.”
Mitchell is poised to be the starting center for the Bonnies after playing last season at Minnesota in the Big 10. He averaged just 4.9 points and 4.7 rebounds during his time with the Golden Gophers, but Woj has his sights set on getting him back to being the double-double machine he was when he was at Canisius the season before last.
“He brings a spirit to our group, and he’s in incredible condition,” Wojnarowski said. “We think he’ll be a double-double guy here and to get A10 Defensive Player of the Year is a great goal for him. I think he’s going to be an anchor for us on both ends of the floor.”
Wedlow is set to be Mitchell’s backup in the 5-spot, like he was for Noel Brown last season. But also able to play the big-man role when needed is Grahovac, granted Woj sees him as a small-ball center if one at all.
One of the most attention-grabbing stories of any St. Bonaventure player this season, Grahovac is the crown jewel of Woj’s first year as GM. A guy who worked bailing hay, painting and woodworking, who never played an organized game of basketball growing up; the Southern California kid has shown he has what it takes to be one of the biggest success stories in all of college basketball this year.
“It’s an inspiring story on a lot of levels, but he’s just an incredible teammate,” Wojnarowski said. “He’s a person with tremendous empathy. He’s been through a lot, he’s experienced a lot. He really appreciates the opportunity he has now, and the earning power he has now, the ability he has to be a player who’s on the radar at the professional level. … He’s very popular with his teammates, and he’s a great bridge to a lot of guys on the team. He can identify with the best player he can identify with somebody who’s still trying to find his way, because he’s kind of both.”
Filling out the quartet of big men that Schmidt will have at his disposal is the most recent committee to the Bona project, Andrew Osasuyi. At 6-9, Osasuyi will be a big threat on the offensive side of the ball. But where he will thrive the most is in the paint, defending his own basket.
“Andrew (can give you) offensive rebounding, he’s a lob threat, but defensively, he’s just dominant around the rim,” Wojnarowski said. “He blocks shots with both hands, he has great shot-blocking instincts. He’s got that quick-twitch jumping that allows him to sometimes be out of position and still be able to go contest a shot or block a shot.”
Former St. Bonaventure men’s basketball co-captain Melvin Council Jr. (11) pulls up for a jumper in the face of a Fordham defender. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
There’s plenty to be excited for in terms of the talent and skill riddled throughout the Bona locker room this season. But the key piece for Woj, is that he knows it is just for this season.
The Bonnies have had nearly an entire new roster for each of the last two seasons with only a few faces choosing to stay. Each time, the majority had been enchanted by the promises of high-major programs or were in search of more playing time. And while Woj may not be a soothsayer and cannot predict what the players on this year’s team will choose to do when the season wraps up, he can certainly plan ahead.
Woj used the examples of Andrew Nicholson, Jaylen Adams and Kyle Lofton as players that Bona would have a hard time keeping in today’s era of college sports. And he knows that fans won’t like to hear it, but the fact of the matter is that it is more than likely they will lose some significant players after this season with how the system works. For Woj, working off a two-year window allows him and the Bona staff to build, not just in hopes they will be successful this year, but for the years to come as those windows stack.
“Every player has got to make a decision, but the two-year window … helps us recruit the next guy, convince them that we’re the place,” Wojnarowski said. “We’re trying to model for agents and coaches and players that, wherever you are in your career, we might be your first stop in college basketball, we might be the second of three stops. … it’s going to look different for everybody.
Within those two years, you’re bringing in guys who hopefully play increasingly more. There’ll be four-year guys, there’ll be three-year guys who might start as a role player and then be a starter, they may become all-league. At once, you try to have all that going on in your roster, knowing that it’s perpetual free agency and the guys have options after every year.”
But let it be known, this is not something Woj revels in. Circling all the way back to the number of things that he learned over his first year as GM, replacing an entire roster is not something he wants to do again.
“I don’t want to imagine a world where we’ve got to bring in 11 of 13 new guys next year,” Wojnarowski said. “I don’t want to imagine that world.”
He, presumably, along with the rest of the Bona faithful.
The St. Bonaventure student section watches on as former men’s basketball co-captain Noel Brown (24) hammers home a dunk against Kent State. (Hunter O. Lyle)
In the current era of college basketball it is quite possibly the most difficult it has ever been for a mid-major program to succeed. High-major teams poach and pick clean promising squads of their best players year after year, and then players who did not receive as much time on the court leave in search of floor time or money elsewhere. This leaves teams with nothing but more work for the recruiting department.
It has become a perpetual cycle.
But by bringing in quality players that cherish development over significant lumps of cash, emphasizing foreign, ready-to-play talents and players that understand the Bonaventure way, there is a hope that the Bonnies can be the outlier to that trend with Woj at the helm.
Only time will tell, but there is a palpable level of excitement in the RC with what this year’s team may be capable of.
