Recruit wrapup: Aaron Bowen
The coaching carousel is a part of every college basketball off-season.
And while Aaron Bowen was still more than a year away from arriving on campus at MU, he was nonetheless affected by it last month when Dale Layer left Buzz Williams' staff to become head coach at Liberty University.
It was Layer who'd been the point man in the recruitment of Bowen, a fast-rising wing from Jacksonville, Fla. last November, so needless to say he took the news of Layer's move hard.
"When it happened, Aaron was unsure because his main communication was through Coach Layer," said Tony Bowen, Aaron's father. "Coach Buzz is the head guy here, he has a lot of responsibilities, and is focusing on a lot of other things. When kids are young, and experiencing something like this for the first time, they're not sure.
"His response was, 'I’m not sure Coach Buzz has the same interest.' That had him unsure. Naturally, he was concerned if he still had a spot."
Bowen, of course, did still have his spot, a fact Williams made abundantly clear when he met with him and his family during a trip to Jacksonville a couple weeks ago. And any fears the junior might have felt in the wake of Layer's departure have since been allayed, his father said.
"Aaron is 100 percent committed to Marquette -- make no mistake about that," said Tony Bowen. "I was telling Aaron, 'This is one of the biggest decisions you’ll be making in your life. You have to take these things seriously, make sure you do your research. And once you make a decision, as a man you want to stand by it.'
"No doubt, to me, to him and his mom also, it was a good decision, a right decision, and there’s no anticipation of going out looking for anything else. Our hearts are set on Marquette."
Tony Bowen said he came away from the meeting with Williams -- the first time he'd met the MU coach in person -- feeling even better about his son's initial decision to commit to the Golden Eagles.
"To me, coach Buzz is a solid guy," Tony Bowen said. "He didn’t pull any punches. He talked through everything Marquette had to offer. I’m a pretty good judge of character, and he’s a solid guy, a man with very good character and integrity. When I walked away, everything he said I truly believed. That’s what I was looking for."
On the court, Bowen had a solid junior season for Wolfson High School, which finished 26-4, won the Jacksonville city championship and spent most of the year ranked No. 2 in the state.
He averaged 15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, while showing no ill effects from a summer knee surgery. He also shot 51% from inside the arc, 28% from beyond (35 makes) and 79% from the free-throw line.
He averaged 17.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a sophomore.
"Just as I expected him to do," Wolfson coach Bruce Rosebrock said when asked to sum up Bowen's junior season. "Whereas next year I really expect him to take over and get his average up into the 20s, because he’ll be our leader. We had a team of seniors and they were leaders, so Aaron did his role even though he was more high-profile than them.
"But he didn’t want to step on toes. He knows that next year is his year to be senior leader, so I expect more out of him then."
Bowen's strength remains his ability to drive to the basket and finish.
"He’s very powerful," said Rosebrock. "He was very, very strong and powerful going to the hole. Very hard to stop. He did some things this year and had some dunks that were unbelievable. We played Arlington Country Day, which plays a national schedule and has two guys going to Kansas State, and Aaron scored 28 points against them. He had a D I guy going to Kansas State guarding him and he just abused him.
"There times this year where Aaron just takes control and you shake your head and just go, ‘Wow.’ We’re expecting to see a lot more of that next year."
Bowen said he was most pleased with the way he shared the basketball.
"I had a lot of assists, because I had a lot of attention drawn to me," he said. "It opened up more people, my passing."
He also learned to deal with an increase in physical play that, probably to some degree, came as a result of his status as a Big East recruit.
"I noticed that in a few games," he said. "A lot of teams tried getting me out of my game, throwing elbows and doing unnecessary stuff, really. Coach kept telling me I needed to keep my head if we wanted to win the game, but some games it didn't work -- I got a couple technicals.
"We were playing a team and they were grabbing my jersey, throwing me on the ground, elbowing me, just crazy stuff to get me out of my game. Coach took me out of the game, and I was straight once I realized what they were trying to do."
Rosebrock has pegged two areas for improvement for Bowen over the summer.
"I don’t think he needs much work taking the ball to the hole because he’s really good at elevating and things like that," he said. "We’re going to work on him shooting the three and also him getting the ball on the wing and taking two or three hard dribbles and then as the defender is backing up, pulling up and shooting a mid-range jump shot from about 15 feet. That’s my thing that I want to work with him on more than anything, having a pull-up off of the dribble and shooting a jump shot.
"He does that well, but because they know how he takes the ball to the hole now and how strong he is, they’re going to be backing up on him. So we’re looking at 1-2 hard dribbles, then pulling up and knocking down some mid-range jump shots that a lot of Americans don’t do. The European style."
Rosebrock has also already started working with Bowen on improving his defense.
"I’ve got a whole slew of tapes lined up. What we’re going to do is go in and sit down in the office," he said. "He still needs work defensively. What we decided we’re going to do is sit down and watch game tapes and point out what I’m talking about, because it didn’t quite click in as much as I wanted it to. That’s a work in progress still."
Bowen has already begun taking his show on the road again on the AAU circuit. He had a big opening weekend in Arkansas in late April, and has seen his status jump in rankings done by internet recruiting sites.
And since he can't officially sign with MU until November, he's likely to continue to hear pitches from other schools trying to change his mind -- not that they'll amount to anything.
"We're not looking," said Tony Bowen. "We're not even considering talking to anyone else. "As far as I'm concerned, the only thing left to do is sign."
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