By SPENCER BATES
PITTSBURGH, PA — The Atlantic 10 men’s basketball season is officially here.
But for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, the early goings of this campaign are set to have a slightly different feel to it.
Not because of a magical change in head coach Mark Schmidt’s philosophies, but partly due to the fact that this roster was constructed with heavy influence from General Manager Adrian Wojnarowski.
Having left ESPN to return to his alma mater after the transfer portal had closed last season, this was truly Wojnarowski’s first chance to play a significant role in building the roster. And according to Schmidt, he has been nothing but a pleasure to work alongside.
“Woj has done a tremendous job, and you can see why he was so successful in his former job,” Schmidt said. “The dedication, he’s working just as hard, probably harder, but with more enjoyment. He has great partners with all these agents. He’s done a tremendous job, not just in his job but throughout the campus, he’s really brought some enthusiasm, some expertise, which is critical in today’s landscape with NIL and the portal. Having somebody with his experience is really a game changer for us.”
Wojnarowski has been pivotal, working alongside Schmidt to find players that fit the mold and formula he will not stray from. One aspect of which is his belief that the key to winning a league like the Atlantic 10 is veteran leadership — something he expects to get, albeit in a different manner, from his younger European talent as well.
“If you’re going to win, especially in a league like the Atlantic 10, you got to win being old,” Schmidt said. “You can have really good freshmen, but you’re not going to win with freshmen. Freshmen have a good year, then they’re probably leaving. So we really have done a good job in trying to get portal kids and European kids. And when I talk about European kids, they’re not typical freshmen, over there they’ve played against men for a number of years. … They’ve played so long with older guys that they’re more accustomed to this level. The other thing is, with the European players, they’re so well-coached … they’re fundamentally advanced. So, we’re excited about that, and that’s an avenue that we’ve taken on, and I think it’s been successful.”
The other important aspect about looking overseas for players, according to Schmidt, is that he and his team believe that they will have a better chance of retaining them come season’s end.
Schmidt spoke at length about the importance of retention in today’s modern era of college basketball, pointing out that the majority of those chosen for the Preseason All-Conference First Team are players coming back for a second year with a team, at a minimum.
“You can’t win the Atlantic 10 with young kids, you need men,” Schmidt said. “Some guys are 24, 25, 26-year-old men. If you’re a 17, 18-year-old kid (to do that), just physically, it’s hard to compete. The international players, we’re expecting them to come in and compete and help us, but at the same time, the hope is that we can retain some of these guys. Because, in my opinion, that second year, that’s a chance we can be really good.”
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball head coach Mark Schmidt at the podium during A10 basketball media day. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Stepping away from roster construction, non-conference scheduling was also a hot-button topic that Schmidt dove into. In an era in which the A10 has been all but shunned by high-major programs, out of fear of what a possible loss could do to their resumés, he and his staff are still doing all they can to try and find that magic formula. One that, if all goes well, mixed with a good A10 season, could put them in contention for an at-large bid if they don’t win the conference tournament.
“We want a schedule (that will help us) go to the NCAA Tournament,” Schmidt said. “We want to have some games that we can win. We want to have some games that are going to be 50-50, and then we’re going to take a couple like North Carolina. We shouldn’t be North Carolina, but I think that’s a good game because if you lose, it’s not going to hurt us. So, we’re trying to create a schedule, to prepare us for The Atlantic 10, and we’re trying to create a schedule where it won’t hurt us if we have a good year and gives us a possibility to get an at-large (bid).”
Depth is another key part of the puzzle that will be interesting to see how Schmidt uses this season. Known for progressively shortening his bench as the season goes on, Schmidt strayed away from saying that will necessarily be the case this season. There is a chance Bona’s bench runs deeper than ever before, but the pressure of that becoming a reality, falls on the players themselves and what they show in practice and in the minutes they are given.
“That’s what the preseason is all about, trying to find what works, what doesn’t work,” Schmidt said. “I always say, ‘it’s not the five best players that play, or the eight top players. It’s the guys that play well together,’ and that’s what the preseason is about. The guys that we brought in, high school kids, portal kids, European kids, right now, they’re practicing to impress the coaching staff. … In the next four weeks, they’re given an opportunity to showcase what they can do, and the better they play in practice, the more opportunity they’ll get in the game. … We’ve played five guys and we’ve played eight, nine, 10 guys. Every year is different. That’s what the preseason’s for: to find out.”
One player that is more than likely safe from that pressure is the newest captain in Bona men’s basketball history, Dasonte Bowen. A Preseason All-Conference Second Team selection, Bowen is coming off a season in which he spent the majority of time on the bench, rehabbing a leg injury. Something Schmidt understood must have been “torture.” But what makes Bowen so special is that in his time on the bench, he didn’t shrink. Instead, he studied. He watched, listened and learned what Schmidt wants and needs out of a team if it is to be a success. It is for that reason Bowen noted he has seen staggering growth within this team, even this early in the year.
“Some things I was able to see were just simple things that you can’t see when you’re on the court,” Bowen said. “People always say, once you’re on the side, you see the game a lot more clearly. So, some things I may or may not have seen while I was playing, I was able to pick up and see off the court, and then bring that into my team this season. … Like we really struggled getting in sets in the half-court last year, but I think that’s something we’ve already nipped in the bud this year. We move the ball almost better than any team I think I’ve been on up until now. And then, … when we get out in the open court I think we’re a hard team to stop.”
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team captain and point guard Dasonte Bowen at the podium during A10 basketball media day. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Another guard that is set to fill an important position in the team this year is Darryl “Buddy” Simmons II.
It is no secret that St. Bonaventure did its best to try and retain its breakout star from last season in Melvin Council Jr. An energizer bunny on the court, Council consistently brought a level of effort and intensity that his teammates, and the Bona faithful for that matter, were able to feed off of. Ultimately, Council made the decision to move to Kansas, leaving that energizer role vacant.
Enter: Buddy Simmons.
“There’s nothing that’s accomplished, that’s worth anything, without enthusiasm,” Schmidt said. “You need those types of guys that are infectious, and Buddy is one of those guys. He has that personality. He enjoys playing. It’s not work. So, he’s going to be one of the keys, and not just the key in terms of scoring the basketball, but in bringing those intangibles, bringing that enthusiasm. That’s what Melvin did. Melvin didn’t play great every game, but he came to practice every day with a smile on his face, and that goes a mile.”
But away from the guards, a big question for the Bonnies this season will be how well their new core of big men adjust to the system. This is something Schmidt has not had to concern himself with over the last two seasons as, prior to this year, he had consecutive offseasons in which a critical big man chose to stay on. Two years ago it was Chad Venning, last year it was Noel Brown, and while Xander Wedlow — a returner this year — is a center that showed promise last season, he did not play as much of a role as the two aforementioned players. But that does not mean Schmidt is expecting any less from him in terms of helping carry over the play style.
“Frank Mitchell is a guy who played at Canisius, played at Minnesota, and the good thing about Frank is I saw him at Canisius, so I saw him up close and personal,” Schmidt said. “Then Andrew (Osasuyi), that we got from Italy, he’s going to be a really good player. He’s long and athletic. And Xander is coming back. … We just got to get him healthy. He’s supposed to start practicing October 1 at full speed, so hopefully we can get him back and get him more acclimated. But he had a good freshman year. He had glimpses, and hopefully that will propel him.”
In terms of the team overall, St. Bonaventure was picked to finish eighth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll, finishing with 185 points, just 10 behind Saint Joseph’s in seventh.
And according to the poll, it seems as though there are a clear top-six teams — VCU, Saint Louis, Dayton, George Washington, Loyola Chicago and George Mason — with a 59-point drop off between sixth and seventh.
But if you are to ask Schmidt what all of those numbers mean, he would tell you not much at all.
“Nobody knows who’s good,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know what George Mason has. I’ll know the guys they have coming back. … I think these preseason rankings are even more ridiculous, because nobody knows (what each other has), unless you have a team like VCU that has a whole team (returning). … (The league is) wide open.”
Preseason polls never carry that much weight for Schmidt. Sure, his Bonnies were picked to finish eighth, but he knows the roster he and Wojnarowski have assembled and will not, at this time, put a ceiling on this team for what they can achieve.
St. Bonaventure will tip-off their season on Oct. 29 with their annual scrimmage against Alfred University, but will officially get its season underway on Nov. 3, fon the road against Bradley in Rock Hill, South Carolina as a part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon.
