ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Jaren Holmes had eluded to its potential in a heartfelt postgame tribute on Saturday.
“This team is magical,” the junior guard said minutes after the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team had suffered a season-ending 76-61 loss to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “It’s just emotional because you never know at the end of the year if this same group will come back.”
From the beginning, the oft-used addendum to anything Bona — with no seniors on the roster — accomplished this winter was that “ … and they’ll be back next season.” And in the aftermath of the LSU game, the Bonnies did, indeed, vow to “be back.”
But now, it seems, that may only be true of the starters, who played more minutes than any group of five in the country last year.
Because Holmes’ premonition has already become a reality.
TWO TEAM members — sophomore guard Alejandro Vasquez and junior forward Jalen Shaw — have entered their names into the transfer portal, the recruiting site verbalcommits.com reported Wednesday, a mere four days after the season came to a close. That means, in addition to being in the rather unprecedentedly envious situation of likely returning all five starters from an Atlantic 10 championship-winning team in 2020-21, it’s also in the following equally unfavorable position:
Bona currently has just seven scholarship players for next season, with six spots available. And, amazingly — with Vasquez’s departure — it has no filled scholarships beyond the 2021-22 campaign.
On paper, both have understandable reasons for wanting out.
Vasquez, after a promising freshman year in which he averaged six points in 16 minutes per game and had eight efforts of 10 points or more, played a noticeably smaller role as a sophomore, averaging four points in 13 minutes with only two double-digit scoring outings. Given that those players ahead of him are back next year, it’s likely he didn’t want to risk the same reduced role next winter.
Shaw, meanwhile, despite showing flashes of athleticism and ability, earned just six minutes per game as the backup to center Osun Osunniyi. And though he always seemed to be engaged and accepting of his role, he, too, was probably looking at another year of limited time behind an all-conference big man who’s one of the best, defensively, in the country and is capable of playing 35 minutes per night.
And those exits are the latest to spotlight the complexity of the bench issue at Bona.
COACH Mark Schmidt, of course, has become notorious for using — and prospering with — a short rotation. This year, it reached an extreme, as Bona had a bench usage percentage of 9.8 percent, easily the lowest in the country since the stat’s inception in 2007.
From that standpoint, it comes as no surprise that Vasquez and Shaw would search for greener pastures.
But those numbers almost certainly wouldn’t have been the case if initial reserves Justin Winston (a starter from last year) and Anthony Roberts (a double-digit scoring Kent State transfer) had been willing to accept their roles. Instead, both bolted in the early going, with at least the former’s situation tied directly to playing time.
Then, too, for years now, Schmidt has identified his horses and ridden them, oftentimes to incredible success — including two NCAA Tournament appearances and two other close calls (in 2016 and ‘19) in the last six years. And those players have proven themselves able to handle the workload.
In that way, it’s become difficult to justify increased minutes for guys like Vasquez, Shaw and Nelson Kaputo — no matter how serviceable they may be — when stars such as Jaren Holmes, Osunniyi and Jaylen Adams are capable of being out there for the duration.
Quite simply, Bona didn’t win the A-10 Tournament title this season by opting to sit Osunniyi for Shaw.
EITHER WAY way, it’s a difficult situation. In one sense, it speaks to the “instant gratification” culture of today’s game, where players are no longer willing to wait their turn and will transfer after a year if the minutes aren’t to their liking. That’s especially true now, in the era of graduate transfers, one-time transfer rules and the added year of eligibility brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of transfers each year, at Bona and everywhere else, continues to skyrocket.
It’s also true, however, that Schmidt and the Bonnies are resistant to going too deep into their bench, even when it feels necessary to do so. And, again, who could blame Vasquez or Shaw for wanting to leave when the rotation is so limited to begin with AND they’re behind the same class of guys for two-plus years?
However it came to pass, it’ll be both a very interesting and extremely busy next two offseasons for this program, which is now tasked with not only filling a couple key positions for next year, but recruiting a new team entirely for 2021-22.
Schmidt, though, has been vocal about how the nature of recruiting has become a year-to-year process, almost pro-like, these days, and he’s both embraced and succeeded under those conditions.
And for as concerning as the situation may look now, for as much as the door continues to revolve, the bottom line is this: 14 years later, the guy who’s built St. Bonaventure in an Atlantic 10 powerhouse probably deserves the benefit of the doubt.
(J.P. Butler, Bradford Publishing Company group sports editor, can be reached at jbutler@oleantimesherald.com)
