Colson has way more game than name
Bonzie Colson sat in the Notre Dame locker room Wednesday before his team’s NCAA tournament practice session. He wore an easy smile and a white ball cap stitched with the words “I can do all things.”
The maxim on his cap could well refer to Colson’s all-court game: He scores and rebounds, the only Atlantic Coast Conference player to average a doubledouble this season. He shoots free throws well and plays good defense. His varied skills have made him a candidate for the Wooden Award for national player of the year and Karl Malone Award for the nation’s top power forward.
But the cap actually refers to a Bible verse: “I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.” Colson figures the words fit his campus as easily as the cap fits his head.
“Notre Dame and a Bible verse, it’s something we can all relate to,” Colson told USA TODAY Sports. “We pray before the games, so I think it’s something that’s special.”
Colson has been something special himself this year and yet found himself under the radar for a player who is a finalist for national awards. He has more game than name.
“I guess that’s something that people may say,” Colson said. “I’m just trying to stay focused on our team and what we can do to be successful. I will do anything in my power to help us to succeed.
“And I think that just motivates us all, to think that we’re all underrated.”
The question was about him, not the team, but coach Mike Brey agrees his fifth-seeded Fighting Irish also are underestimated.
“We must need to hire a new marketing department,” Brey said. “Why are we always flying under the radar? We’re pretty darn good. Bonz has been that undersized guy that when he was being recruited no one knew: Is he going to be big enough? Is he productive enough?”
The answers: Yes. And yes. He is 6-5, 225 pounds, small for a power forward in a power conference. But he averaged 17.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while presenting matchup nightmares for opponents.
“I think being an undersized big I just try to play with that edge,” Colson said, “trying to play with that chip on your shoulder every game. I’m not that 6-8, 6-9 guy, so I just have to use that to my advantage. No matter if I have a taller defender, I do what I can do to outplay that.”
Colson played on a bum ankle in Saturday’s ACC tournament championship game, scoring 29 points and keeping the Irish in it before they fell to Duke 75-69. Brey said Colson had swelling Sunday and Monday but that it has come down since.
“He’s made great progress, doing a little bit more every day,” Brey said. “You know, I think by noon (Thursday), he’s one of those guys, he’s such a warrior, that you tape him, you give him a couple Advil and cut him loose.”
Princeton reserve guard Aaron Young said the Tigers watched that ACC title game. “We were like, ‘Who is this Bonzie Colson guy?’ ” Young said. “And then a day later we get the announcement that we’re playing them in the first round.
“He’s definitely going to be a handful for us. He’s very skilled, and he has the kind of strength you don’t see a lot in the Ivy League.”
Princeton coach Mitch Henderson compared Colson’s body type to that of Craig Robertson, Michelle Obama’s brother and a former Princeton player who Henderson says was built like a 7-footer from his feet to his hips.
“That’s how Bonzie is,” Henderson said. “He’s proportioned in a way that makes him difficult to guard, and if you’ve played, you can kind of understand that. He presents a lot of problems for everyone who guards him because he’s shifty. People say it’s an old man’s game. … He’s terrific at kind of every part of the game — great rebounder, he picks and pops.”
Buffalo is home to a large Irish Catholic population, many of whom would like to celebrate the harmonic convergence of Fighting Irish victories Thursday and Saturday with the feast of St. Patrick’s sandwiched between.
“I didn’t know that,” Colson said. “I’d never been to Buffalo, but it feels like we’re back at home (in South Bend), with all the snow. When we went out to the bus, the wind hit me. I expected the snow, but the wind got me.”
Wind might be one thing that can cover Colson. Henderson said Princeton will try multiple defenders: “We haven’t seen anybody like him.”
That’s why wave after wave of cameras and recorders came by Colson’s locker. He answered the same questions from each new wave. Yes, he thinks Princeton plays a lot like Notre Dame. Yes, the ankle is feeling better. But, no, he doesn’t ever think about being underrated.
“I just play my game,” he said. “I don’t worry about any of that.”