Venning's Lone Season Leaves Lasting Impact

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Earl Grant needed a center.

His Boston College basketball team was in the process of losing nearly 90 percent of its offensive production from last year, but the largest and most gaping hole emerged in the middle of his roster. For the previous two seasons, the head coach centered his Eagles around Quinten Post's ever-emerging skills, and the system employed on the offensive end eventually evolved into an inside-out game centered, literally and figuratively, around the Dutchman's ability to swerve through traffic.

Replacing Post was impossible, but Grant understood how different options existed. He couldn't rebuild the offense specifically around last year's style, so he dipped into the transfer portal for a different type of player. Big meant two things, he reasoned, and an old school tough guy from St. Bonaventure offered the perfect complement for BC's return to grittier roots.

Enter Chad Venning. A Brooklyn native, he spent two years converting himself into a traditional big who often announced his presence with authority in the Atlantic 10. BC was his third stop after starting his career at Morgan State, but the upward trajectory translated perfectly after Grant realized that attitude and character extended well beyond his statistics. He was Post's replacement, Grant knew, because he wasn't a replacement at all. He was his own man.

Six months later, the season that has had its share of ups and downs is producing an underrated big man unafraid of battling anyone within the Atlantic Coast Conference. Led by Venning, this year's team is laying foundational stones for the future by reeducating itself through his leadership qualities. On the court, the junkyard dog fights for rebounds and points with an unmatched intensity, but off the court, his one year in Chestnut Hill is earning him the respect and admiration that was on full display during last weekend's Senior Day festivities.

"Usually a guy's here for four years and everyone's crying and stuff," said Grant about last Saturday's pregame senior day ceremony honoring Venning and Roger McFarlane, the team's other graduate transfer. "But these guys have done a good job for us because they're really high character people. What I've really enjoyed is not only the way they play hard for us on the court, but someone like Roger McFarlane has a professor inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner at her house, and Chad Venning has a 3.4 GPA towards a master's degree. They show up every day, and they have a good attitude."

Venning's work ethic and resilience wasn't an overnight explosion, but his reputation as a scrappy frontline forward turned the one-time unheralded prospect into a four-star transfer with humble roots. His improvements, though, switched the Bears into a high-ceiling team capable of advancing into a postseason tournament. A little-used freshman gained minutes during his sophomore season, and by the end of the year, Morgan State advanced to the MEAC semifinals before appearing in The Basketball Classic's one-year experimental tournament after Venning increased his scoring by nearly six points per game. A reputation as a shot blocker and two-way rebounder followed his ability to crash the rim for points, and St. Bonaventure brought the Bronx native back to his home state after recruiting him through the transfer portal.

Two years later, a major offensive weapon helped the Bonnies to the A-10 semifinals as one of the steadiest hands in the conference, and his two-way rebounding remained steady while he developed into a blocker and defensive threat. In 2024, the team that eliminated Loyola Chicago in Brooklyn lost to Duquesne two days later, but Venning was a four-star transfer recruit on BC's radar after Post's graduation to the NBA.

"There's been a climate change in college basketball and college athletics," said Grant. "That's where we are. We all have to embrace it and buy into it and find joy. I will be a part of their lives as transfers because they came through our program, and they helped me have relationships. Having all the new guys is just the new normal, so you have to expect it."

To his credit, Venning immediately changed the dynamic within the BC offense by ingratiating himself to the team's new style. He pounded against the low areas where Post flexed out of the paint and opened face-up shots, and his first four games produced three separate outings in double-figures. He later posted a three-game stretch with at least 10 points before scoring at least 17 points over a four-game ACC stretch in January and posted a 19-point performance against presumptive No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg.

Like his previous stops, Venning is arguably closing the season with his best basketball. Over the last 14 games, he's averaging nearly 15 points per game while shooting 56 percent from the floor, and his 21-point total against Notre Dame came within a basket of his career-best scoring performance from St. Bonaventure's loss to La Salle during last season's stretch run. Before that, his 11 straight points from the first half kept BC afloat against Miami, and he enters the final four games of the year with the ACC's second-best field goal percentage and fifth-best in league games.

"These games coming down the end, I'm starting to realize that the end is kicking in," admitted Venning after his 19 points helped bury Georgia Tech on Senior Day. "These are my last few games, and I'm just trying to make the most of them."

Making the most of his time at BC very clearly produced a change in the team's approach to its frontcourt, but Venning's entire demeanor filled the leadership vacuum created by last season's departures. Without Post, much of the frontcourt expectation would have fallen on redshirt freshman Jayden Hastings, who instead spent this season developing different angles to his game with the different viewpoint against Venning.

"They were both fifth year players," said Hastings, "so being able to play against Chad as a strong post presence and QP as a more versatile 3-point presence helped me defend bigs. I've seen both sides of it. In practice, I have to play against Chad, and when we're battling in the post, I have to read his moves with more feel. I can put my chest on him. With QP, he could post-up, but I had to be ready for that 3-pointer and his rip drive, which made me quicker with my instincts and what I could do defensively."

Hastings was a three-star prospect and one of the 10 best recruits from Florida, but the real-world training against both players pressed him into a position similar to Venning's come-up. Like his new mentor, he didn't play significant minutes - or any, for that matter - in his first year, but his second year included shorter bursts and a few spot starts that were largely earned by his practice performances.

Even in the Louisville game, which was a blowout loss, Hastings started and played 27 minutes with eight points and nine rebounds, and his eight points and four boards against Virginia Tech helped buoy the bench's depth for the late-season breakout against the Hokies. Like Venning, his nine-rebound performance helped bolster the win against Miami, and his six points contributed key minutes off the bench.

"Coming in, QP was one of the best players on the team," said Hastings. "I looked up to him, and I thought of him as someone that I could learn from. It did me a lot of good to redshirt and play on the scout team because I'd play against the first team. With Chad, it's different. He came from St. Bonaventure - my cousin played for the Bonnies. When Chad committed, I asked my cousin what he was like, and he straight up told me that Chad was one of the best guys to be around. Coming in with Chad, I had a connection with him and knew he was my guy. I felt like God had put him in my life to make me a better basketball player, and now i'm just learning from him and battling with him."

"We hit it right with character," emphasized Grant. "Any good players, when they're actually better people than they are players, that's the joy that I find in working with them every day. Chad and Roger helped us stabilize our program in a year where there were a lot of new guys, and we hit it right with their character because we were able to overcome some adversity through their leadership."

Venning and BC continues play tonight in the Bay Arena, with its first trip to California and its first league games at Stanford and Cal. The two-game swing begins with the team's first trip to the Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto at 9 p.m. before continuing to Haas Pavilion for Saturday's 10 p.m. start.

Venning's Lone Season Leaves Lasting Impact

Players Mentioned

Jayden Hastings

Roger McFarlane

Quinten Post

Chad Venning

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