ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — His signing was essentially lost in the shuffle, wedged between the additions of touted Canadian prep prospect Nelson Kaputo and eventual superstar Matt Mobley.
Courtney Stockard was an intriguing recruit all his own.
The 6-foot-5 forward had averaged a gaudy 23 points and nine rebounds for Allen Community College (Kansas) in the winter of 2014-15, earning a spot on the NJCAA Region VI Second Team. He looked the part of an Atlantic 10 player. And when he put pen to paper on May 6, 2015, Stockard seemed a solid two-year addition for a St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team on the rise.
Still, there was a discernible lack of buzz when Bona signed the Saint Louis native, whose reception paled in comparison to the one for Kaputo, then the No. 8 prospect in all of Canada.
Part of that was due to Stockard simply being the lesser-known commodity. The bigger factor: The former Jennings High standout was a junior college transfer, part of a subset of recruits that typically isn’t viewed with as much glamour as a prized prep player or an established four-year transfer.
To this day, there exists a stigma with juco transfers, though it continues to fade as these players — and their talent — become more visible to D-I coaches and the community college pipeline becomes an increasingly viable option for ready-made additions.
There must be a reason they’re not already at the Division I level, fans might say. We’ve never heard of this particular player before.
Those sentiments, however, are becoming less and less true. And Bona has become an example of how going the juco route can pay off and how these additions are, at times, just as important as landing an Osun Osunniyi.
Within the last week, Bona added a pair of juco transfers to next year’s roster — Illinois natives Eddie Creal, a 6-foot-4 guard, and Jalen Shaw, a 6-foot-10 big man — guys that it hopes will be able to supplement an already-established core. And that got us to thinking: How well has Bona fared with juco players under coach Mark Schmidt?
The answer: Pretty well, all things considered.
In his now 14 years at the helm, Schmidt has brought in 20 junior college transfers, including Creal and Shaw. Three of those players — Eric Mosley, Marcus Posley and David Andoh — began at the D-I level before going the juco route and eventually making their way to Bona.
In that time, he’s had more hits than swings and misses, by roughly a 60/40 margin in our view. Eighteen of those players are listed here, falling into one of four categories: Home runs, solid additions, so-so’s and strikeouts.
Home runs: Jonathan Hall, Posley, Stockard, Jaren English.
Solid additions: Ogo Adegboye, Eric Mosley, Chris Johnson, Charlon Kloof, Andell Cumberbatch, Andoh.
So-so’s: D’Lancy Carter, Chris Dees, Ray Blackburn.
Strikeouts: Lewis Leonard, Iakeem Alston, Ndene Gueye, Melkisedek Moreaux, Matt Johnson.
By this measure, at least 10 of the jucos under Schmidt have to be considered quality signings; all 10 were (or are) starters — most for both of their seasons — for Bona teams that ranged from good to great.
That number becomes 13-of-18 if you’re willing to allow that Carter, Dees and Blackburn were legitimate contributors, in some capacity, though the latter was dismissed after one season for disciplinary reasons.
From here, that’s a pretty good conversion rate.
Yes, over the last decade-plus, Bona has become proof that juco transfers can, and do, succeed at the D-I level.
Hall, even before Andrew Nicholson, was the bridge between the turmoil of the 2000s and the success that was to come. Johnson, Kloof and Mosley all made an impact on the Bonnies’ 2012 Atlantic 10 championship team, with the latter holding the program’s single-game A-10 scoring record (39 points) before giving way to fellow juco Posley, who now holds that mark with 47.
Adegboye was the national minutes leader in 2010-11, playing his part on the middling teams at the turn of the decade. Cumberbatch, for all his flaws, was a two-year starter and a top defensive player on a pair of 18-win teams in 2014 and ‘15.
Posley and Stockard, meanwhile, were not only all-conference players, but among the 60 names that appeared on the program’s 100th anniversary All-Time Team ballot from the summer, propelling them from obscure juco signings to two of the greatest players in team history.
And that brings us back to this spring.
As jucos, Creal and Shaw might not be considered “splashes” to most Bona fans … though given where the roster already stood and the recruiting challenges presented by the COVID-19 outbreak, going that route seemed a strong possibility.
Inarguably, there’s been far less buzz surrounding this class than the last two, when Bona landed Kyle Lofton, Dominick Welch and Osunniyi in succession (in 2018) and nabbed four-star prospect Justin Winston (for 2019).
There’s enough evidence, however, to suggest that these guys might well end up somewhere between a complementary piece and a strong A-10 starter. As with any recruit, time will tell which category they ultimately fall into.
