The Low Down: Woods comes to Bonaventure as a bit of an unknown. He is definitely going to be a project but his height and athleticism creates the type of forward that has been staples on Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies teams. He definitely needs to put on a few pounds of muscle, which is typical of most freshmen and hopefully he’s begun this process over the summer. His track and field background means that he can jump out of the gym, but he is new to basketball and Schmidt’s playbook and philosophy is not for the weak of heart. He will have to learn quickly and be ready to jump in the deep end of the pool from day one. The lack of quality big men will mean that Woods may need to step up quickly but if he can’t figure out what is happening, he may enter Schmidt’s doghouse; something the Bonnies cannot afford.
Quotable: “He’s much more physical and all of that; he’s progressed across the board. Rebounding-wise, he’s become much more of a concern for everybody. Scoring-wise, he was able to finish plays because of his weight gain, that added strength.” - Bill Coleman, high school coach.
One Fact: Started playing basketball only six years ago.
Last Year by the Numbers: Averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per game.
Biggest Strength: Woods has mentioned that it was Coach Schmidt directly who recruited him. Schmidt tends to have an eye at locating lanky forwards who fall under the radar but turn into something good. Woods is an athletic player with a developing basketball IQ. The fact that he hasn’t played much may be a positive, in the idea that he hasn’t learned bad habits. He could be a solid candidate to be a stretch 4 if his skill-set develops. Given the Bonnies’ ability to develop those bigs Woods likely has a promising future (we will forget about Xavier Smith, Brett Roseboro, etc.)
Glaring Weakness: Woods is another player in a long line of incoming freshmen who might have lacked a solid weight program in high school. In order for Woods to make a difference, he needs to be able to handle the pounding that the Atlantic 10 front court will provide on a nightly basis. The fact that he is new to the game has potential to complicate things and will force him to experience a baptism by fire type of freshman season.
Best Case: Strong candidate to provide quality minutes off the bench and could very become a key player this season given SBU’s weaknesses on the interior. This will require great effort on behalf of Coach Fiske in the weight room and coach Moore who develops the forwards.
Worst Case: Enters the Bona doghouse and overall growth is delayed due to lack of game experience. However, given the Bonnies interior issues it’s hard to see Woods not playing this season (at least until Jordan Tyson returns).
A member of the class of 2008, Nolan spent four years as a student assistant with the program. He has written professionally for such outlets as espn.com/insider, Athlon Sports Magazines, Cox Sports Online and Blue Ribbon Previews. Ian was named one of the “140 Personalities to Follow in College Basketball” on twitter by The Sporting News.
