Erik Reynolds saw transfer portal door, ignored it to stay on Hawk Hill

That rumor was out there.

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball transfer portal is officially open for only a couple of months each spring. The rumor wire … always open for business.

At the same time, while Erik Reynolds was having a terrific sophomore season for the St. Joseph’s Hawks, the rumors were out there.

“Look, the reality was, from about December on, I was told he wasn’t coming back, from multiple sources,” said Hawks coach Billy Lange. “None of which were directly tied to Erik. I just think we’re in an era where people are going to assume things because of the ease [with] which things can happen.”

There was a market for Reynolds out there. This big-time Power 5 program with a new coach needed players, that big-time school had a new assistant who had recruited Reynolds to Hawk Hill in the first place.

» READ MORE: How a summer trip to Argentina changed St. Joseph’s Erik Reynolds II’s basketball perspective

In this age of instant eligibility and NIL collective markets, you don’t whistle past such rumors.

“They’re more true than they’re not,” Lange said of the rumors across the landscape, not specific to Reynolds. (For instance: Jordan Dingle rumors were out there, too. Sure enough, the Big 5 and Ivy League player of the year transferred from Penn to St. John’s.)

How close did Reynolds himself get to walking in that portal door, seeing what was available for him?

“I’m not going to lie – it barely got close,” Reynolds said the other day, sitting inside Hagan Arena. “It really wasn’t something I was heavily thinking about. It was just the people in the media thinking that I’m going to go places.”

Really, social media.

“All in all, I didn’t think I was going anywhere,” Reynolds said.

This was a massive decision for local college basketball. If Dingle hadn’t been Big 5 player of the year, it may have been Reynolds. For the whole Billy Lange era to achieve liftoff now, keeping Reynolds was key. How much was St. Joe’s getting a collective package together for him a factor in his decision?

“It’s definitely a factor, given how college basketball is nowadays, you know,” Reynolds said, not looking to get into the specifics. “It’s something I thought about. I wanted to really see what St. Joe’s had really going on – it’s been promising.”

Again, Reynolds suggested it was one factor, not the prime factor. Did he know what was on the other side of that portal door?

“A little,” Reynolds said. “I mean, like I’ve definitely heard those things because I’ve got people around me that tell me certain things about what they’re seeing. … But I wasn’t really looking to go on the other side of that door like you said.”

So what were the biggest factors that made him return? Comfort with the staff, Reynolds said first – “them really believing in me, knowing the type of player I am, and the fact that I’ve developed here over the last two years and I’m continuing to develop. I felt like I was already good here because I’m getting the resources that I need to become a better player strength-wise, skill-wise, and just becoming a better leader on the court here.”

Did it factor in at all that St. Joe’s had a strong freshman class coming in?

“Also a huge piece,” Reynolds said.

Not just the freshmen, he said. Strong returning players, too. He can work on his off-ball game. Plus 7-foot Frenchman Christ Essandoko (Pronounced Creest ... you’ll hear that name a lot), who sat out last season. I started to ask Reynolds about him.

“He’s a weapon,” Reynolds interjected. “I’ll just leave it at that. People are really going to see.”

All of this factors in, and you could see it in practice the other day, the spring in the step of the freshmen, the new big man showing legit shooting range. Lange will have interesting decisions to make about allocating minutes in his rotation. Nice problems to have, really for the first time in his tenure.

But it starts with Reynolds.

“The spirit that he brings,” Lange said. “The guys respect him as a human first. He’s a great teammate. He’s coachable, so they see an example of what we want a guy to be in terms of being a program member. And then his talent — he’s a returning all-Big 5 first-team guy, an all-A-10 second-team guy — you could argue he could have been first. He’s a 1,000-point scorer in two years. He’s closed games out for us. He’s talented. He’s a junior.”

In an age where all that means choices.

“He would have had a ton of them,” Lange said of the transfer market. “Erik could play anywhere he wants. Now can he be the same player anywhere he wants? That part I don’t know. I know he’s mindful of the teammates that he has, the relationships with the coaches, and his role. But it’s not for lack of choices.”

“This is what I came here for and I’m getting better because of the place I came to,” Reynolds said. “This is what I expected to get out of the program. So why would I leave it?”

There’s all sorts of logic there. St. Joe’s looks primed for a step up into A-10 contention. A big season on Hawk Hill, any way you look at it.

St. Joe’s has a collective up and running. You can’t ignore the NIL world.

“No, no, no,” Lange said. “I really believe that our alliance is going to be extremely strong once our fan base, constituents, alumni understand the importance of this to the actual existence of St. Joseph’s basketball. This is an extremely passionate place. I feel we will be in that at a high level.”

Erik Reynolds just offers a little proof that this is only part of the puzzle.

“There’s always going to be more somewhere else, right?” Lange said. “Always.”

Reynolds said he stayed for the same reason he committed in the first place.

“I saw the vision of Coach Lange and it’s starting to come together,” Reynolds said in his final thoughts. “Like, a lot more. It got better each year I was here. Now, the confidence is different, the energy is different here, within the team, within the coaches, within myself.”