Bonzie Colson Keeps Notre Dame Thinking Big
In so many ways, 6-5, 225-pound junior Bonzie Colson individually best represents the collective Notre Dame men’s basketball program. He manifests why the Fighting Irish have been the lone men's team in the nation to advance as far as the Elite 8 each of the past two years.
Colson’s game has been described as one of a “junkyard dog,” which he wears as a badge of honor. It’s not always pretty or smooth, and often seems unorthodox — similar to 2012-16 Butler’s 6-4, 225-pound star Roosevelt Jones — but the two-time Rhode Island Gatorade Player of The Year gets results with his perimeter pounding scoring ability.
While averaging 25.3 minutes per game last season playing mainly as a second big to the graduated Zach Auguste, Colson still averaged double-figure scoring (11.1 points per game) and pulled in 6.7 rebounds per contest, second on the team. He also was second in steals, behind star point guard Demetrius Jackson.
Colson's best performances came against college basketball royalty. He scored 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Notre Dame’s first ever win at Duke, and helped vanquish the Blue Devils again in the ACC Tournament with 12 points and 12 rebounds. In the second half alone of a comeback win over national runner-up and much taller North Carolina, Colson scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds (four on offense), and in the ACC Tournament loss to the Tar Heels he tallied 19 points and 10 boards. Whether it was starting 24 of the 36 games or supplying instant energy off the bench, Colson was consistent in his attitude toward competition.
“We’re hungry,” he said after Notre Dame’s sixth and final formal summer practice earlier this month. “We’ve always been doubted here, so it’s nothing new to us. We’re always going to play with that chip on our shoulder and continue to do the things we have to do to win … and elevate it to another level.”
Doing whatever necessary encompasses Colson’s game perhaps more than anyone else’s on the 2016-17 roster. With the graduated 6-10, 245-pound Auguste’s 14 points and 10.7 rebounds per game no longer around (his 22 double-doubles last season were the fifth most ever by an Irish player), far and away the top issue is going to be post play in the front court.
Junior Martinas Geben (6-10, 255) barely played the past couple of years while trying to assimilate to the college game. Senior Austin Torres (6-7, 241) has seen only spot duty during his career. Sophomore Elijah Burns (6-8, 235) redshirted last season and is trying to stay consistently healthy, while freshman John Mooney (6-9, 245) battled a virus a part of this summer that didn’t let him quite come to the forefront a little more.
Brey would rather not have to rely mainly on the 6-5 Colson to be the main man in the pivot, but he will be both the X-factor and the contingency option in many ways for the way the team can collectively function. The roster’s strength is the 6-6 to 6-8 wings with seniors Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem, plus sophomores Matt Ryan and Rex Pflueger, and Colson can step out too. However, his inside presence might be needed more to make the typically efficient Brey offense hum.
“When you bring a Beachem or Ryan to the floor or a second big to the stretch (4) spot, we’re really hard to guard and we’re efficient offensively,” Brey said. “It puts Bonzie in the post on a guy, and they can’t [come out to the perimeter to] help.”
Even if Colson is in with Geben, it is Colson who might be in the post because Brey has more confidence in Geben taking the mid-range shots than he was with Auguste. The “big” position likely will be by committee this year, per Brey, but Colson always is a fallback plan with which the staff is comfortable.
The Notre Dame program operates primarily on “staying old” and having a seniority system, highlighted by Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton two years ago and Auguste and Jackson last season. The leadership mantle has been passed on to Vasturia and Beachem in 2016-17, but expect the junior Colson to be equally active with his bark and bite.
“What they taught me I’m teaching the young guys,” said Colson of his predecessors. “Staying composed, staying focused, not taking any possession for granted. Those little things make our group so strong and the chemistry so well.
“I want to be able to have a voice more on an off the floor. Score more, rebound more, stretching my game to the 3 spot, dive for balls, get loose balls, play with an edge.”
It’s a formula that has made the 6-5 Colson a far bigger man on the hardwood.