Dunleavy eager to unleash a more balanced Bobcat squad to complement veteran leadership and depth

Baker Dunleavy enters pivotal sixth year at Quinnipiac with veteran roster and desire to improve on both ends of floor. (Photo by The Quinnipiac Chronicle)

Baker Dunleavy’s five seasons at Quinnipiac have been a mixed bag of sorts since the former Villanova assistant was tapped to replace Tom Moore in 2017.

From the near-regular season championship his first year at the helm and the development of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year Cameron Young, to campaigns in which the Bobcats struggled to find themselves before competing better toward the end of the season, Dunleavy has seen just about every possible situation under his watch. His latest undertaking, which involves taking Quinnipiac back to the top half of the MAAC after a resurgent finish in which it toppled No. 3 seed Siena in the conference tournament before falling short against eventual champion and Cinderella Saint Peter’s, has left him feeling confident and cautiously optimistic since returning from Atlantic City and navigating the summer with seven incumbent players, each of whom figuring to play an integral role in a pivotal 2022-23 voyage.

“We did end on a positive note,” Dunleavy recalled. “We battled in AC, won two games, so I think we were playing our best basketball at the end of the year and I felt good about that. It’s always nice when you could carry that type of momentum in the offseason. We had a really good start to the year, a really, really tough middle, and we finished strong. Overall, the positive we take is how we finished, and we tried to carry some of that momentum with us into the offseason as best we could.”

“In this day and age, when you have seven returning players, all of whom played significant minutes, that’s a big number. And as a coach, coming into the summer and the fall, it really gives you peace of mind knowing that your players can coach each other a little bit and have veteran leadership. We certainly have that. Savion Lewis, Matt Balanc and Tyrese Williams are all fifth-year players in our program, guys who have stuck by us and really weathered some storms. They’re motivated to win, and that comes across in every practice, every meeting that we have.”

In Lewis, Balanc and Williams, Dunleavy has a troika of battle-tested veterans with a second experienced trio behind them in Tymu Chenery, Dezi Jones and Luis Kortright, all of whom possess the invaluable commodity of having been through multiple years of MAAC wars to mitigate the massive departures of two more program stalwarts in Jacob Rigoni and Kevin Marfo, while also showcasing the ever-present backcourt depth that has been a fixture in Hamden since Dunleavy assumed the reins.

That depth manifested itself last year in the form of Jones’ baptism and development, which was thrust into overdrive in December after Lewis tore his Achilles tendon in a road win at Manhattan, an injury from which he has been fully cleared to return and would be readily available if called upon.

“We had a situation last year where we really benefitted from having two really good ball-handling point guards in Savion and Dezi,” Dunleavy said. “When Savion tore his Achilles, it put Dezi in a situation where we threw him completely into the fire and play a lot of minutes at the point guard position. He had some bumps in the road like anybody would, but finished the year playing as well — offensively — as any point guard in our league. He led the MAAC in effective field goal percentage, and I think he did a really nice job, especially as the year went on. He ended in a really good place, and we expect him to start in a really good place.”

In addition to the glut of guards, the Bobcats have an uncharacteristic — to the casual observer — amount of depth up front as well, welcoming four incoming transfers into the fold to replace Rigoni, Marfo, Brendan McGuire and Elias King. Graduate transfer Ike Nweke and 6-foot-8 Elijah Taylor, by way of Columbia and Notre Dame, respectively, afford Quinnipiac the opportunity to experiment with larger than usual lineups, with junior college import Paul Otieno and East Carolina expatriate Alexis Reyes stepping into the void left by Rigoni on the wing.

“I think (Nweke and Taylor) give us an ability to play big up front that we haven’t had in the past,” Dunleavy opined. “In our league at the four, I think Ike is a physical advantage, no doubt. Elijah and Ike, athletically and mobility-wise, are very versatile defensively and help us in areas we need to shore up. Paul Otieno is a guy coming from Kilgore Junior College by way of Kenya, and he’s been impressive this summer and fall in his acclimation into the program. He’s a guy that’s really going to compete for minutes as well. Alexis is the type of wing we’ve always targeted, a guy with size and a feel for the game that allows us to play a perimeter-oriented wing and play four perimeter players together, much in the way that Jacob helped us before. Alexis is a different player, but helps us in the same way in terms of size, floor spacing, and skill.”

“With losing two players in the frontcourt, we knew we wanted to focus on bringing in some veteran players to fill those spots, and we were able to do that. Our staff did a good job of targeting key guys and making it happen. We have really good guys, competitive guys, and our chemistry, generally, has been really good. This year is no different.”

Still, the games are played on the floor and not on paper or perusing the roster. With that said, Dunleavy is enthusiastic about the short-term future that lies ahead, but realistic about the glaring need to improve on both sides of the basketball and become the balanced team that the Bobcats have shown flashes of being, only now on a consistent basis to send his veteran squad out on a successful note.

“We have guys who have been enthusiastic and willing to sacrifice for the challenge of winning here, and I’m excited about that,” he admitted. “When it comes to the game, we’re going to play nine, ten guys, so the benefit is everybody’s going to touch the floor on a regular basis. The biggest thing we’re looking forward to from this group is to have a veteran group who’s been here go out in a really successful, positive, winning way.”

“That’s what this year has to be all about. These guys have really put a stamp on our program and our school, we really want them to go out the right way. We know the work that goes into that, but we’ve got to make that happen, and for us as a team, we’ve got to be a team that can be balanced and be towards the top of the league in both offense and defense. I think we have the ability to do it, but we have to go make that happen.”