For the first time in a long time, I was making an honest attempt at refraining from talking myself into a successful season for St. Bonaventure hoops. For those that know me, they know that I have a long history of talking myself into teams that I love even when on the surface there’s no real reason to believe in them. In 2023-2024, I saw the transfers of Cincinnati point guard Mika Adams-Woods and his childhood buddy Charles Pride coupling with the second-year Bonnies in Darryl Banks, Barry Evans, Assa Essamvous, Kyrell Luc, Moses Flowers, and Chad Venning and got my hopes up.
What ensued was…if we’re calling a spade a spade, a dumpster fire of a season with scattered highlights here and there…but more frustration than anything I’d experienced before. Couple this brand of season, a year where big-time transfers were brought in (AKA the new NCAA landscape thanks to NIL) with the small, mid-major stature of St. Bonaventure and its dire-looking future and you can understand why I’ve made a concerted effort not to get too excited for this upcoming 2024-2025 year…even though there are several factors that would typically make me go from six to midnight.
Well, 12! 12! 12! It’s midnight over here! Here comes a Woj Bomb. Adrian Wojnarowski, SBU class of 1991 and ESPN NBA Insider announces his retirement from sports media and joins St. Bonaventure as its official General Manager for Men’s Basketball. In the new age of NIL, Adrian has already gone above and beyond, generously donating tens of thousands of dollars of his own money towards a fund to compensate the players for choosing SBU.
For a school of Bonaventure’s stature, this was as big of an advantage as it gets as-is. But now, he’s leaving behind a 35+ year career in sports journalism and a hefty multi-million dollar contract with ESPN, seemingly because he loves SBU that much…wow, this is definitely something that I, and other Bonaventure die-hard alumni and fans, can literally never repay.
Woj doesn’t just bring name recognition to St. Bonaventure University. He brings potential NBA contacts that could attract an otherwise skeptical recruit. If the cult-like fandom of the alumni base wasn’t enough to attract a talented high school player, imagine what the opportunity of a first-class basketball marketing portfolio from someone with the reach of an Adrian Wojnarowski could offer? I cannot stress enough how much this news means.
Woj is leaving a buttload of money on the table at ESPN. He made his move because he loves SBU and wants to make a difference…and he’s a smart guy who’s likely well aware that the new age of college sports heavily favors the major programs and he doesn’t want to see the basketball program that he loves die. Just the like rest of us.
I’m sure part of his decision is based on the fatigue of constantly having to be “on” to break the news before anyone else. I’m sure the sudden manner in which he announced the news is a friendly reminder to Shams that this was one story that he would never break first. But mainly, it’s a clear message that St. Bonaventure basketball is not only back…but is ready to compete for a long, long time! SBU season preview coming soon!