INDIANAPOLIS — In hindsight, Trey Bonham and Honor Huff have been around Dan Earl long enough to trust him.
But in June, not knowing much about the new prospects the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga head coach had brought in to join the program for the 2024-25 season, Bonham and Huff met with Earl to have a conversation.
Or, as Huff said earlier this week, “we were just wondering where his head was at” because he and Bonham both thought the team would be “trash.”
They initially questioned the additions of Bellarmine transfer Bash Wieland, a trio of Division II transfers in Frank Champion, Garrison Keeslar and Jack Kostel and Pacific addition Makai Richards. There wasn’t going to be a massive Name, Image and Likeness budget to add high-major transfers, so Earl had decided to go the route of finding savvy, intelligent basketball players that could fit into what the Mocs were doing.
UTC coach Dan Earl’s roster construction paid off with national title
But Bonham and Huff were used to having shooters — the Mocs have always been a heavy 3-point shooting team — and none of those guys came to UTC as proficient in that capacity. Maybe a few guys didn’t “look the part,” according to Earl and Wieland. So they had concerns. But they also had a relationship with Earl that dates back to 2019 in Bonham’s case and 2020 in Huff’s, so they knew they could be candid in that moment.
“It was interesting because I love those guys and they’re both really good ball players,” Earl said this week of Bonham and Huff. “You worry a little bit and we have some guys on our roster that don’t necessarily pass the look test, if you will. When you come in, they’re not dunking in layup lines or what have you, but I knew we had good basketball players and we went out to try to get guys that know how to play, that can ‘See, Share, Shoot’ and then compete on defense.
“Plus, something I tried to sell those two on was the fact that they were each a year older, which means a lot. When you go from being a junior to senior or whatever years they in terms of eligibility, you get a lot better. So I was trying to hold them accountable and tell them they were that much better than they were the previous year. I said, ‘Hey, trust us,’ and they did, and then it didn’t take them long to figure out that those guys could play a little bit.
“I’ve reminded them of that conversation a little bit over the past couple of weeks.”
Some of it was just simple ignorance. The Division II level sometimes gets a bad rap, but there are a ton of good basketball players there (the Mocs just picked up another one Friday with the commitment of 6-4 senior guard Jikari Johnson, who averaged 20.7 points at Division II Trevecca last season) that in a lot of cases got overlooked or needed some seasoning.
“I didn’t know about that transition,” Bonham said. “I didn’t know that D2 actually had hoopers like them, and they proved me wrong for sure.”
Enough time has passed to where the trio could be candid about it this week after games in the National Invitation Tournament Final Four at Hinkle Fieldhouse, which the Mocs won by defeating Loyola-Chicago in Tuesday’s semifinals and UC Irvine in the championship.
Each player, as Earl suspected, brought a value to the team on the court. But Bonham also noted that they brought value off of it as well as Keeslar and Wieland — next-door neighbors of Bonham and Huff — are leaders in UTC’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and have brought Bonham closer to God.
Keeslar, who hit the go-ahead shot in Thursday’s victory over the Anteaters, has been constantly one to serve as a leader on-court for the group in practices and games, holding others accountable if they lacked “a championship mindset.”
And each player had won, specifically the D2 guys. Champion was a two-time All-American at North Georgia and was the Southern Conference’s Newcomer of the Year, but he also brought an ever-present smile, even after a lower-body injury suffered the week of the conference tournament. Kostel provided comedic relief to the team at all times and was known for his kiss to the crowd after made 3-pointers, but also played in four national tournaments at Alabama-Huntsville and finished his career with 1,043 points.
Wieland was the Knights’ leading scorer in 2023-24 and wound up third on UTC’s team while joining Bonham, Champion and Huff on SoCon all-conference teams. Richards came in with the least fanfare, but wound up being a key rotation player and topped double figures four times, including 10 in the NIT semifinal win over the Ramblers.
Each came to Chattanooga with a “Last Dance” mindset, which didn’t waiver one bit, even after the team was stung in an overtime loss to Furman in the SoCon tournament semifinals, costing the Mocs those NCAA tournament dreams.
But, as it turns out, the consolation prize ended up being a national championship in the NIT.
And as it turns out, Earl and his staff were right all along.
“Boy was I wrong,” Huff said of his initial thoughts. “Every single one of the transfers added a value that couldn’t be replaced for this team, and I’m just so grateful for this. We all love each other, man; this is one of the best, if not the best team I’ve been a part of and to keep playing was amazing.
“It’s a true testament to our team.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.