‘Felt like we needed name tags the first couple of weeks’

The stage is new. The role, however, is a familiar one to Taven Vigilance.

For the first time since his days as a highly touted high school recruit at Oak Park, Vigilance will be asked to help drive the Manitoba Bisons offence this season.

An elevated role for the 6-7 guard, entering his third year comes as the Bisons turn the page to a new era of the men’s basketball program, having lost all five of its starters from a season ago.

Vigilance spent this summer honing his craft, knowing this opportunity was coming. He focused on his ability to dribble off a screen, in particular, which is a common demand of Bison ball-handlers who need to understand how to decisively read defenders off the pick.

“Our team, the past couple of years that I’ve been on, we’ve always been like a pretty ball screen dominant team,” Vigilance said. “Lots of things get run out of pick-and-roll, so I knew I was gonna have to work on that this summer if I wanted to be one of the main leaders on this team.”

The expectation was always that Vigilance would one day become one of the catalysts for offence. However, having arrived at the university ranks as a 17-year-old, it would take time for him to become the player head coach Kirby Schepp envisioned.

“Taven certainly has the talent to do it,” said Schepp.

“He certainly has the ability, and he’s seen others do it. I think it’s often hard for young guys to come in to be the superstar at a high school level, and they’re much more of a stand-in-the-corner, get a back-cut every once in a while, kind of role, and sometimes that’s hard. And he’s done that, but now he has to sort of make the adjustment again to, ‘you’re the guy that’s creating advantages. You’re the guy that’s making plays.’ And so, I think he’s going to embrace that role.”

Vigilance saw more opportunity last season and made good on that by elevating his production. His playing time increased from 13.7 minutes to 16.7 minutes per game, and his shooting efficiency jumped significantly, as he made 51.3 per cent of his field goals (38.2 per cent in 2024-25) and 34.2 per cent of his attempts from three-point range (19.4 per cent in 2024-25).

He admits there is still a learning curve and an adjustment from the role he played his first two seasons, but things are slowing down every day.

“It’s a little bit of everything. Throughout high school and stuff like that, I was always kind of pushed into that (role of) being the best guy on the team most of the time,” Vigilance said of the emotions around being tabbed a full-time starter.

“But then I came here, had come into an older team, I guess, so there’s lots of guys in front of me. And then now this year I’m one of the, I guess, considered older guys on the team. Being in that position, yeah, there’s lots of excitement, the nerves and stuff like that, because there’s a little bit more pressure on you.”

The fact that Vigilance is considered an older player speaks to the youth movement that the Bisons are currently undergoing.

Vigilance is one of just six players returning to Kirby Schepp’s program. The others, who will all be asked to carry more weight, include: fifth-years Brandt Lenz and Jonam Kazadi, third-years Ramogi Nyagudi and Barac Thon, and first-year Dante Dyck, who redshirted last season.

The other nine players — who make up the largest recruiting class of Schepp’s 18-year head coaching tenure — are newcomers.

“I felt like we needed name tags the first couple of weeks. It’s certainly a fresh start,” Schepp said.

“It’s challenging, but in many ways, it’s very exciting at the same time to kind of start anew. I think it took me probably a bit to realize how much I had to slow down some things we were doing to really reteach a lot of fundamentals of things we do systematically, but even just culture wise — habits and traditions that sort of came second nature to a group that I had for a long time. Now you got to start over on a lot of that, And in some ways, that’s pretty cool.”

Schepp was deliberate in targeting more veteran recruits, though. Four of his new players have experience playing against university or college-level competition.

One of those experienced newcomers is 20-year-old guard Sam Desrochers.

The 6-2 ball-handler from Gatineau, Que., who grew up in a hockey home and didn’t swap his skates for sneakers until he was 13, spent the last three years with Jean-de-Brebeuf in his home province, winning a provincial championship and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national championship last season, and earning All-Canadian and Defensive Player of the Year honours.

“I think the main thing here is experience,” said Desrochers, who averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.9 steals per game last season.

“I think coming here, I mean it’s obviously another step… but being able to play against guys that are the same age as university guys is definitely helpful just to be accustomed and being ready like right away to play against that type of adversity.”

Desrochers believes he can make an immediate impact with the Bisons after facing players anywhere from 20-25 years old during his time back home. Schepp believes he can, too.

It’s why the Bisons pushed so hard for the 20-year-old, and why Desrochers ultimately committed to Manitoba instead of staying in la belle province.

“Sam will be in the All-Rookie conversation for (Canada) West,” Schepp said.

“He was someone people recruited across the country. Sam is going to play right away. He started every game we’ve had so far, and he’s going to be a significant player.”

While the incoming experience could lend to the Bisons remaining competitive this season, Schepp knows it could take some time before the Bisons are a well-oiled machine.

It will take some nurturing, much like he’s done with the likes of Vigilance and the other young talents who make up the core of this new era of Bisons men’s basketball.

“I think there’s a certain mindset that your entire program has to have that we’re going to remain competitive, just in the way you approach every day and every game and that kind of stuff. But there’s a balance of you realize that: is a national title in the queue this year? Probably not. So we have to develop, because in order to develop you have to play,” said Schepp.

“We’re willing to live with some mistakes, I think, of some of our young guys early, in order for that reward to pay off later.”

The Bisons open the season on Oct. 30 against their crosstown rival Winnipeg Wesmen.

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