Who's Bret Vandergard and what's he done for us lately? [DDSCB3]

[PointGuard 70]

Buzz Moriarity, Missouri State Athletic Director

 

I’m extremely happy to have lured Bret Vandergard to Missouri Valley. I’ve been very impressed with how he steadily improved Eastern Washington and was impressed how his team played this season and by them getting to the Sweet 16. Bret is now under contract for 5 years at $159,000 per year. I think he’s pretty happy with that since it’s almost twice as much as he was being paid at Eastern Washington.

I became the AD at Missouri State 4 years ago. Our basketball program hasn’t gone anywhere in recent years. Under Derrick Lewis in the past 4 season, the team had records of 14-15, 10-19, 11-17, and most recently 14-16. 4 straight disappointing seasons. We had a winning record against just one MVC team (Evansville), had broken even with just one (Wichita St.), and had losing records against 7 MVC teams (Bradley, Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State (1-8), Loyola-Chicago, Northern Iowa, and Southern Illinois). Of course, there have been no post-season tournament appearances. So it was time to move on. Rather than be sidled with any remnants of a mediocre program, I got rid of the entire coaching staff.

I thought people would be pleased with the hiring of Bret Vandergard, but I misperceived the desire for a local name. Many people in these parts are saying “what’s a westerner like Bret Vandergard done for us?” I’m getting a lot of feedback that I should have hired Carlton Nash, who left Western Kentucky at the end of this season. Nash is a Missouri boy, having been a high school and college star in this state. So people around these parts are very supportive of him. But the guy’s getting up in age and I wanted some fresh ideas around here.

Bret’s got a big challenge. Derrick Lewis had just 9 scholarship players and three of them are graduating. Of the 6 walk-ons, 4 are graduating. So there are 7 scholarships coming open this year and just 2 players were recruited by Derrick Lewis this past season. All of last year’s interior players are graduating and a returning PG is on academic probation. With just a few weeks left to go and no remaining recruiting budget, it’s doubtful that Bret will be able to fill all remaining 5 scholarships, and he could get shut out completely. His success may be dependent on whom he hires as a recruiting assistant.

The two players who have been recruited thus far are:

C Donte Hartfield, 6-8 HS Sr from Harrisonville, MO; 3.2 GPA (1080 SAT). 14.0 ppg, 3.5 apg, 5.5 rpg, 1.7 spg, 3.1 bpg. Ranked #1152 in the country.

C Joey Jones, 6-9 HS Sr from Boise City, OK; 3.4 GPA (1220 SAT). 11.4 ppg, 4.0 apg, 6.5 rpg, 2.1 spg, 2.0 bpg. Ranked #1408 in the country.

Bret indicated that if he could recruit 5 players in the next few weeks, he’d like to get 3 more big men, a SG, and the best player he can lasso. That’s a big challenge, particularly when he has no staff yet.

Bret immediately got together with sophomore PG Ryab Hayes, a player with a 1.7 GPA, and sophomore SF Josh Hughes, a player with a 2.0 GPA, and hooked them up with tutors.

Bret and I agree on the goals for the coming season to be to finish above .500 and improve school prestige.

[PointGuard 70]

Ansel Adamson, Assistant Athletic Director

 

Buzz Moriarity is having me work with the new head coach here, Bret Vandergard, to try to nail down a few recruits to fill the 5 remaining scholarships that are coming available.

After we look at who has been recruited and what few notes are available on each one, Bret offers scholarships to 4 HS seniors. He also offers a scholarship to a high-flying JC player from Missouri that Bret recruited and was excited about, but who wasn’t interested in Eastern Washington. Unfortunately Derrick Lewis never contacted or recruited that player for Missouri State at all.

Within a week 3 of the HS seniors accept scholarships:

PF David Earl, HS Sr from Laurel, NE; 3.2 GPA (1010 SAT). 15.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, 8.8 rpg, 1.7 spg, 2.4 bpg. Ranked # 710 in the country.

PF Ricky Lee, HS Sr from Clear Lake, SD; 2.7 GPA (950 SAT). 16.0 ppg, 3.4 apg, 8.8 rpg, 1.5 spg, 1.9 bpg. Ranked # 861 in the country.

PF Jimmy Woni, HS Sr from Adrian, MO; 3.1 GPA (1040 SAT). 14.2 ppg, 4.5 apg, 7.5 rpg, 1.9 spg, 2.3 bpg. Ranked # 1076 in the country.

[PointGuard 70]

Buzz Moriarity, Missouri State Athletic Director

 

Bret worked hard to identify, recruit and negotiate the hiring of assistant coaches. One of the assistants he went after signed, ironically, with Eastern Washington. But he ended up getting 3 excellent assistants, but it was costly. His staff consists of:

1st Assistant (Recruiting): Erick McGadney, 61 yr old, an excellent recruiting who has experience in the midwest. $55,000 salary on a 5 year contract.

2nd Assistant (Scouting): Mike Martin, 45 yr old, an excellent scout. $45,000 salary on a 5 year contract.

3rd Assistant (Player Development): Paris George, 43 yrs old, a solid overall assistant whose highest skills are in player development. $25,000 salary on a 3 year contract.

[PointGuard 70]

Erick McGadney, 1st Assistant Coach

 

As soon as I arrive on campus, Coach Vandergard has me trying to nail down the remaining 2 scholarships. I’m not confident that much will be accomplished in the next 2 weeks, but it’s worth a try. I’m familiar with the JC player he’s recruiting, but have never actively recruited him. The other recruit is from Oklahoma. I know very little about him, so have to do some quick studying. With no budget remaining, going after these guys is basically a shot in the dark.

Bret says that after the acting AD at Eastern Washington refused to even consider Bret’s 1st assistant for the head coaching vacancy, Austin Nathaniel quit. Eastern Washington hired Grant Wane, a 64 year old with so-so skills as head coach and then hired as first assistant coach the guy Bret was going after initially as 3rd assistant, Carlton Wadley. Austin Nathaniel got a head coaching position at Yakima Valley Community College. 

We strike out on the remaining two scholarships.

Bret says Eastern Washington ended up signing just 2 of the remaining 4 players to whom he had extended scholarships. So that means they have 2 unfilled scholarships just like us.

[PointGuard 70]

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

 

Damn! Great way to start. Ryab Harris ended the last term with a 1.5 GPA and Josh Hughes had a 1.9 GPA. Therefore both will be on academic probation for the first half of the season. Ryab looked to be our strongest PG and is our strongest player defensively. So that means we will have 3 PG’s, 2 SG’s, 1 SF, 3 PF’s (all freshmen), and 2 C’s (both freshmen) on our active roster to start the season.

Coach V was livid. He said, “The tutors I hired for those two guys didn’t do a damned thing for them. Tutoring will continue but I’m getting different tutors for both of them. They WILL be eligible for the last half of the season!”

Harris and Hughes apparently aren’t happy with having to undergo extensive tutoring. Both decide to transfer. We’re down to 11 players on our roster, 2 of whom are walk-ons.

Because our interior players will be very inexperienced and our bench won’t be deep, Coach V decides to ask the AD to schedule a soft pre-conference schedule.

[PointGuard 70]

Erick McGadney, 1st Assistant Coach

 

Since we have 4 unfilled scholarships right now plus 1 player on scholarship who will be graduating after this coming season, we decide we’ll conserve our recruiting dollars by just getting the basic Great Plains report and attending the Houston Classic Camp. We also decide that going after 5 recruits is more than we want to tackle in our first year here, so we decide to seriously consider picking up a couple transfer players.

Transfer Season: There is one outstanding SG, Trent Jackson who scored 13.6 ppg as a freshman at Auburn with good skills across the board. He was ranked #44 as a high school senior. But we aren’t on his radar and because of his talent, some high prestige schools are likely to go after him. The other outstanding player is C Tom McClinton, who is transferring from Iowa State where he averaged 17.2 ppg and 9.0 rpg. Again, little chance we can land him.

We make offers to several players in rounds 1 and 2 of the transfer period but they all choose other programs. Because we are having no luck getting players to agree to transfer, we opt to offer scholarships to 4 players during Round 3, hoping that 1 or 2 of them will accept. To our complete surprise, all 4 players accept our offers. While we are happy to get each of them, we really were hoping to have 3 scholarships to offer during the upcoming recruiting season, rather that one as we now have. (In other words, we screwed up). Here are the transfer players that will be coming to MO State:

PG Bart McClain, a sophomore transfer from Wyoming where he scored 8.9 ppg.

SG Cleveland Brown, a sophomore transfer from Montana where he scored 5.0 ppg.

SF Quinton Asbury, a junior transfer from Oregon State where he scored 14.7 ppg but had a 1.5 GPA (he immediately gets assigned a tutor).

PF Kenneth Grandison, a sophomore transfer from Mount St. Mary where he averaged 10.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg.

Here’s what happened with the players who transferred away from Missouri State: SF Josh Hughes transferred to Cal Poly and PG Ryab Hayes transferred to Alabama A&M. If they get their act together academically during the upcoming season during which they will be ineligible, they won’t lost a half year of playing time as they would have by staying at Missouri State, so ultimately it may have been a good decision on their part.

[PointGuard 70]

Larry Montgomery, 2nd asst coach at Eastern Washington

 

Yeah, I'm still an assistant coach at Eastern Washington...so what's Bret Vandergard done for me lately?  Not a damned thing!  But I thought you might be interested in some news about a recent graduate:

We were very excited when C Colin Goode was the 47th player drafted in the Pro Draft. It’s likely he will spend some time in the Development League working on his rebounding in particular, but hopefully he will move on up to the NBA and do well there in the future.

[PointGuard 70]

Erick McGadney, 1st Assistant Coach

 

[Nota bene: recruiting will be at the Brutal level]

With the entire staff being new, we’ve got a lot to do and recruiting is going to be tough for us this year. We put a lot of Missouri high schoolers on our initial watch list and then augment it with other from the Great Plains region. We add a few Missouri kids who are higher in the ratings but have yet to show interest in us. Coach V and I decide to try to land the best player we can at whatever position that may be.

As the recruiting season progresses, we are able to get quite a few players interested in Missouri State, at least to some extent. I’m excited to find out who may ultimately be our lone recruit this year.

[PointGuard 70]

Bobby Hendricks, owner of KSMO radio in Springfield, MO

 

I met with Bret Vandergard, the new basketball coach at MSU. We discussed what our radio station has been doing as far as broadcasting MSU basketball games in the past and our plans for the future.

BH: Coach, I would like to try something new this season. I think having you, as head coach, have a 3-5 minute segment the morning of a game and then a 3-5 minute segment the morning after a game would be a good way for MSU fans to get an inside view about the team and your games.

BV: Sounds interesting, alright, but wouldn’t I need to come into the station to do that?

BH: Hell no. These days we can do this by phone.

BV: Ah, OK. So this would be done on the road as well then. I see. Would it just be me talking for the entire time? 

BH: I think we need to work that out a bit, but I think it’s best for the morning announcer do a short lead-in and then ask you some open-ended questions that you could elaborate on.

BV: Do you really think this would be something your listeners would want to tune into?

BH: I’m absolutely sure of it. We’re a sports station, so everyone that listens to us likes sports and most want to feel like they know something others aren’t likely to be aware of. Actually I had planned it with Derrick Lewis, the past coach. But he never warmed to the idea and then the team wasn’t performing well so fan interest waned so I dropped further thought about it.

BV: Maybe we could just give it a try and see how it goes. Sort of a trial. That way if it doesn’t work out well, you could just let it slip away.

BH: That’s OK by me, even though I’m confident this will be a hit. I tell you what. I’ll draw up a contract and run it by you later this week, if that’s OK by you. And hey, everyone can use a little extra pocket money.

BV: Sure, Bobby. Send whatever you write up to me and I’ll review it.

BH: That’s great! I think you’re going to find that people around here like to take care of coaches.

[PointGuard 70]

Meaghan Kriley

 

Brett’s been in Missouri for some time now. We talk, but not too often. I’m not too surprised since I know he has to get a lot done in a short period of time. But it hurts nonetheless. Maybe he wants out of our relationship and just doesn’t know how to say it.

[PointGuard 70]

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

 

Quinton Asbury is making me nervous. An entire summer of tutoring with no academic improvement. He's still got a 1.5 GPA. We’ll keep the tutoring in place and hope that it eventually takes with this blockhead.

[PointGuard 70]

Erick McGadney, 1st Assistant Coach

 

We decided to take a shot at a highly ranked center and offer him our lone scholarship. Coach V visits his home but we’re rebuffed. Next we made an offer to a top SG but he chose Iowa.

We then pulled our heads out of the clouds and focused on which recruits would be likely to choose our school. We dropped our sites below some more highly rated players to focus our gaze on three players…a PF, a C, and a PG. The PF is the highest rated of the 3 and probably has developed the furthest thus far. The C has a tremendous work ethic and while not being as good defensively may be a better rebounder, and the PG has is a slick ball handler and passer. Both Coach V and I like all of them, but Coach V feels that we may presently be weakest up front. He’s impressed by the center’s work ethic (and also his 7-1 height), so we decide to offer the scholarship to him…and we net him:

C Marquis Hollins, 7-1 HS Sr, Lexington, MO, 2.4 GPA. 14.7 ppg, 1.9 apg, 8.4 rpg, 1.6 spg, 1.8 bpg. Marquis had a good, albeit not a spectacular, showing at the Houston Classic camp. His strengths are strong inside shooting, rebounding, shot blocking. He needs to work on his defense, foul shooting, and ball handling. He has a tremendous work ethic and because of theat facilities are particularly important to him. His GPA gives us some concern about qualifying when he takes his SAT, but if he attends our school, he will be the first member of his family to attend college.

[PointGuard 70]

Buzz Moriarity, Missouri State Athletic Director

 

Coach V requested only one change to the pre-conference schedule I put together. He wanted me to get Eastern Washington to come play us in Springfield. I talked with Carl Quagmire, the AD there. He wasn’t having any of it, saying we didn’t have a good enough program to host his team. I felt like dropping it right there, but continued talking with him and finally got him to agree to a game against the Eagles in Cheney. I thought Coach V would be very happy that I was able to accomplish that, but he rolled his eyes and said, “We might as well chalk up an “L” right now if we’re to play them there in Cheney.” 

I asked him how he thought he’d do with this schedule. His response was, “I guess we’ll win some, lose some.” Man, I hired a freakin’ genius.

Our pre-conference schedule is:

PORTLAND
@ Delaware St.
@ Saint Mary’s
@ Seattle
@ Alcorn St.
@ Eastern Washington
@ UL-Lafayette
SOUTHERN
CAL ST. FULLERTON

[PointGuard 70]

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

 

Coach V has decided to employ one different offensive set and a different zone defense than he used at Eastern Washington to focus on the sets that players here are most familiar with. Offensively, our primary set will be the Flex with Princeton and Shuffle also being used. Defensively we’ll play man-to-man most of the time but also use the 3-2 zone. We will use a full-court man-to-man pressure defense a little and are adding a 2-2-1 half court press also.

Fall practice went smoothly. The players meshed well. There were no major incidents and just a very few minor ones. Coach V got on PG Greg Fisher, the only senior on our squad, when he was late for practice the 2nd time. Coach V reminded him that he’s expected to be a leader on the team. Greg apologized and said he’d try harder.

The redshirt period came and went without any actions by us. With just 11 players eligible to play, there’s no way we were going to redshirt anyone.

[PointGuard 70]

Mike Martin, 2nd Assistant Coach

 

While the fall practices went well, I don’t know how Coach V will determine who will start. One day, a player looks great, the next day not so good and someone else looks great. So there seems to be some good potential, but a real lack of consistency. It’s likely some of the player who are starters in the first game or two may be replaced depending upon their and the bench players production. 

There are 2 returning starters (guard Greg Fisher and SF Aaron Wells) but even those 2 have run hot and cold. 

With nothing but freshman for the interior positions, it’s looking like we could put their names in a hat and just do a “pick-em”.

[PointGuard 70]

6 straight on the road is a rough way to start your first year at a new school...

 

[Copied from post by Emark in the Wolverine Studios forums]

[PointGuard 70]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emark 

6 straight on the road is a rough way to start your first year at a new school...

 

 

 

You got that right!  

And I couldn't pass up adding Eastern Washington to our schedule, but that's gonna be a rough one.

[PointGuard 70]

SHH! Don't tell Bret that by the time his team arrives in Cheney that former Chief of Police Matt Hauser has been released from prison, the comatose Tony Carpelli has mysteriously vanished from his hospital room, Dawes Johnson has been found fit to stand trial and has been released from the mental institution....oh and there is a little matter of TWO Nancy Parkers.

 

[Copied from post by CoachC in Wolverine Studios forums]

 

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

LOL...Bret may decide to let his assistants travel to Cheney so Bret can stay home in Springfield hidden under his covers.

[PointGuard 70]

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

 

Here’s how things have shaken out thus far position by position:

PG: Greg Fisher will get the nod. He’s our only senior and has 2 straight years of starting. He’s yet to truly impress, though. Additionally, he’s a terrible FT shooter, so likely will be sitting the last minute or two of a game in which we’re leading by a few points. Terrence Simmons will back him up.

SG: Brent Gregory will be our starter. During his freshman year at Tennessee State, he scored pretty well as a starter, although he needs to improve his shot selection to hit a higher percentage of his FG attempts. Rashad Thompson and Rudy Gage will get some minutes coming off the bench and we’ll see which one does better.

SF: Aaron Wells started last year, but wasn’t impressive offensively but did a reasonably good job on the boards. We don’t have another true SF on the squad, so PF David Earl or one of the guards will back up Wells.

PF: Jimmy Woni and Ricky Lee have thus far been pretty equal, but Woni will get the start in the first game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee doesn’t take over as the regular starter.

C: Another crap-shoot. Donte Hartfield will be the starter in our first game, but Joey Jones could well supplant him in the starting lineup.

Our other 4 team members all transferred this year so are ineligible this season.

[PointGuard 70]

Tyson Rodero, play-by-play announcer for KSMO radio

 

Game #1, Nov. 15, 2017: Portland Pilots (0-0) at Missouri State Bears (0-0)

Welcome to Missouri State’s first game under head coach Bret Vandergard. Tonight, the Bears host the Portland Pilots of the West Coast Conference. Last year the Pilots finished with a 10-19 record. In the past, Coach Ben Sterley has liked his teams move the ball around to slow down the game. I’m sure the Bears are hoping that results in a lot of turnovers tonight.
******
Brent Gregory intercepts a pass down low and outlets the ball to Greg Fisher who quickly brings it across mid-court. Fisher works the ball over to Aaron Wells on the left side. Wells zips the ball across court to Brent Gregory who puts up a 12 footer from the right side that drops, finally putting the Bears in front 12-10. Gregory has 7 points in the first 7 minutes of play.
******
That’s the second straight travelling call against Donte Hartfield and Missouri State’s 7th turnover as we near the mid point of the first half. Coach Vandergard is up and hollering as his guys to control the ball. Vandergard replaces Hartfield with Joey Jones.
******
Well, we heard that Vandergard likes to shuttle players in and out and that’s exactly what he’s been doing tonight using his full bench and keeping fresh legs on the court. 
****** 
At the half, Missouri State holds a 29-24 lead. They’ve shot well, hitting 57% of their shots plus they’ve controlled the boards 16-7. But they have 12 turnovers to the Pilots 5, so I suspect Coach Vandergard will be on his players in the locker room to turn that stat around in the 2nd half. SG Brent Gregory leads the Bears’ scoring with 9 points.
******
Jamarcus Wane drives into the lane, pulls up and sinks an 8 footer to put Portland ahead 35-33 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
******
David Earl sinks 1 of 2 free throws to cut the Pilot’s lead to 37-35. The Bears free throw shooting continues to stink. They’ve now hit just 5 of 13 foul shots.
******
Rashad Thompson takes a pass just outside the key. He works his way inside, fakes a shot to get the defender to commit, and then puts up a jumper and scores. That puts the Bears back on top 39-37. Thompson was fouled on the shot by Jamarcus Wane. Thompson sinks his free throw to give the Bears a 3 point lead with 12 minutes to go.
******
Portland’s Jason McCoy muscles up a shot in the key. The shot is good and McCoy was fouled by Jimmy Woni. McCoy’s foul shot is off the rim and is tipped out to Vic Walker who is fouled by Brent Gregory. Walker goes to the line for a one-and-one with the Pilots trailing 58-53 with 52 seconds remaining in the game. Walker’s first shot drops through. He toes the line and sinks the second as well to cut the Bears lead to 3 points.
******
Terrence Simmons brings the ball over the line, dribbles to the left of the key and quickly puts up a 15 footer the goes in. It’s lucky it did, because Vandergard didn’t look happy to see him not work the clock down. 60-55 with 45 seconds to go. Portland calls a time out.
******
McCoy take receives the pass from Wane at the free throw line and drives into the key. He puts up a shot and is fouled by Woni, but his shot rims around and goes in. McCoy calmly hits the free throw to cut the lead to 60-58.
******
Cage inbounds to Simmons. Simmons brings the ball up court uncontested. But he’s fouled in the forecourt and will go to the line for 2 shots with 27 ticks remaining on the clock. Big shots here. The first shot rims out. Simmons’ second free throw is good giving the Bears a 3 point lead.
******
Kemmpe dumps the ball inside to McCoy. McCoy looks outside and finds Vic Walker in the right corner. Walker takes the pass and quickly puts up the 3. It’s in! That ties it at 61-61 with 14 seconds to go. Cage dribbles into the forecourt and the Bears call a time out with 8 seconds to go. 
******
Following the time out, Fisher takes the inbound pass, works the ball over to Gregory on a pick and roll, but Gregory is contained. He passes inside to Jones. Jones shovels the ball right back Gregory who puts up a quick shot as time expires. The shot was short and we go to overtime.
******
OK, sports fans, we’re back. The teams are set to begin overtime play. The home crowd, even though not all that large, is revved up.
******
The Bears have scored the first 5 points in OT. But Portland hits a FG with 3 minutes to play to reduce the Bear’s lead to 66-63.
******
Whoa! Aaron Wells knocks down a 3 with 1:44 to go to make it 72-64 in favor of Missouri State. 
******
Jamarcus Wane counters with a 3 for Portland to cut the lead to 5 with a minute left. 
******
Portland has to foul and that will send Terrence Simmons to the line for 2 shots. The Bears foul shooting continues to let them down. Simmons first shot rims out. His seconds drops in to make it 73-67 with 53 seconds remaining. Missouri State has been to the line 35 times, but made just 18 free throws.
******
That’s it...game over. It wasn’t easy, but Coach Vandergard gets a win in his first game as Missouri State head coach. Vandergard’s half time talk must have worked because the Bears had just 4 turnovers in the 2nd half and OT combined so were just a -1 in turnovers for the entire game. They ended up holding a 33-26 rebounding advantage and outshooting Portland 54% to 42%. 

Final Score: Missouri State (1-0)—75, Portland—67 (OT).

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-17 pts, 3 assists, 5 reb, 1 steal; PG Greg Fisher-10 pts, 5 assists, 3 reb; PG Terrence Simmons-8 pts, 2 assists, 1 reb, 1 steal; C Joey Jones-6 pts, 2 assists, 5 reb.

Player of the Game: SG Brent Gregory-17 pts, 3 assists, 5 reb, 1 steal.

For Portland: PF Jason McCoy-14 pts, 3 assists, 5 reb, 2 steals.

[PointGuard 70]

Flash Borden, sports reporter for KSMO radio in Springfield, MO

 

FB: Hey Springfield sports fans, we have the new Missouri State head basketball coach with us today to give us a rundown on how the Bears played in their first game this season. Welcome, Coach Vandergard…and congratulations on the win last night.

BV: Thanks Flash. It’s always a pleasure to put a “W” up on the board. We’re playing most of our pre-conference games on the road, so winning our home games is vitally important.

FB: Did the team play up to your expectations, Coach?

BV: Actually I had no expectations. My staff and I have just been trying to get to know the players and how they complement each other on court. As such we came into this game with open minds on how the team would do. But overall, the guys did a good job. I was impressed by their aggressiveness on the boards, but we have a lot of things to work on to get to the point where we are going to compete well within the Missouri Valley Conference later this season. No coach likes to see his team turning the ball over. Our 12 turnovers in the first half was alarming, but we talked about it during halftime and the guys did a much better job the rest of the game.

FB: Some folks are saying your pre-conference schedule is a cakewalk and that you’re just playing a bunch of patsies. What do you have to say about that?

BV: Well…let’s look at this objectively. The team last season had a mediocre record. All the coaches this year are new to Missouri State University. We’re only suiting up 11 players. Of those, only one is a senior and only two have ever started for the Bears. In addition, 5 of the 11 players are freshmen and all 5 of our big men are freshmen. Now given all that, would YOU schedule Duke, Kansas, UCLA, and Michigan State? Of course not. The guys need to get experience, play some close games, and win a few games to gain confidence. But you can also look at our schedule and say that because we’re playing 2/3 of our games on the road, that we’ve set up a rather challenging schedule for ourselves.

FB: I note that you’re playing your old team, Eastern Washington in a few weeks. Do you think they’re going to be trying to prove something to their old coach?

BV: I know most of those guys very well, and they’re trying to prove something every time they take the court. So it will be nothing different that their normal approach to a game. But playing the Eagles in Cheney is a huge hurdle. They’re a strong team wherever they play, but when they’re on Reese Court with the fans urging them on, they’re tough as nails. Our challenge will be to be like the hammer that pounds down those nails. We have a long way to go to be up to that task. But I look forward to seeing the Eagles’ players again and am excited to see how those who played for me have developed and how those I recruited last year perform.

FB: A final question for you, Coach. Any changes for your next game at Delaware State? 

BV: Later this morning I’ll get together with my assistant coaches and break down what we did in the game against Portland. That will determine what we need to work on and if there will be any personnel changes.

[PointGuard 70]

Paris George, 3rd Assistant Coach

 

Mike Martin is on the road scouting, but Coach V got together with me and Erick to review game film, analyze our first game, and discuss how our players performed. 

Brent Gregory had a very strong game at the 2. He definitely will be starting again. Rudy Gage and Rashad Thompson, who split on court time while Brent was resting, played pretty well, though. We’ll see which of them is more consistent.

At point, both Greg Fisher and Terrence Simmons were a mix of good and bad. The bad for both had mainly to do with turnovers and the good was that both effectively distributed the ball to their teammates. Greg will start again, but his poor foul shooting is a liability. 

Aaron Wells will continue to start at the 3, not because he played well, but because we have no one yet that can do any better. David Earl, his primary replacement, provided no offense but did mix it up on the boards. Coach V had a couple of our guards at the 3 for a few minutes each during the game.

On our interior, the jury is still out. But we decided to test a new combination to start our next game, so Joey Jones will start at the 5 and Ricky Lee will start at the 4. Both Donte Hartfield and Jimmy Woni, the starters for our first game, will still get a lot of playing time, though.

During practice I’ll be working with the team on ball control, but I think we’re going to continue to have turnover problems until more of our players become familiar with running our sets.

We did a satisfactory job defensively in our first game. There’s room for improvement, but we didn’t experience any significant problems and were steady throughout the game. I’m hopeful our strong effort on the boards continues, but Coach V and I will keep drubbing into our guys heads to get good position, box out, and fight for rebounds.

[PointGuard 70]

Brenda Blankenship, Go Bears Fan Club member

 

Game #2, Nov. 17, 2017: Missouri State Bears (1-0) at Delaware State Hornets (0-2)

I attended college at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. It’s a small, private liberal arts college that’s now nearly 150 years old. So it’s even older than I am. I moved to Springfield, Missouri over 30 years ago with my husband and we became big Bears fans. Stan passed away two years ago, but I’ve kept my season tickets and have remained active in the Go Bears Fan Club. When I heard that the team was playing a game at Delaware State in Dover, I decided it was a great chance to go back and get together with some of my girlfriends from college for a long weekend. They’re a hoot. I convinced them to come to the game with me, even though most of them don’t know all that much about basketball. They’ll be gabbing about all sorts of things throughout the game, but I’ll just pass along some of the comments that apply to tonight’s game.

***Yes, Dorothy, Delaware State hasn’t won a game yet this season, but both of their games have been on the road where wins are tough to get. They came close against Southern California and then they played Eastern Washington and got drubbed, but Eastern Washington did very well in last year’s NCAA Tournament so they’ve probably got a very good team. That’s the team where our new coach came from.
***OK girls, even though we all went to college in Delaware, you have to promise me you’re going to root for Missouri State. We may be the Bears only fans here tonight.
***Yes, our fan club has mostly males in it. And no, I’m not dating any of them.
***Most colleges recently have gone to colorful and artistic court designs. It wasn’t long ago that courts had little writing or design work on them. I like the Hornet design but it’s not as good as Missouri State’s floor.
***Oh no, turnovers on our first 3 possessions! No, we aren’t that bad. I think our guys are just a little nervous. 
***Well Barbara, nowadays they have all these TV timeouts. This is the first one of the game. Even though it’s only 9-7, at least the Bears are ahead.
***Come on refs! You can’t call ALL the fouls against just one team!!!!
***Whoo hoo! Our guys are really shooting well. That basket forced the Hornets coach to call a time out. A 21-14 lead with 8 minutes to go in the first half is great! I hope the Bears can keep it going.
***Oh Janet, it’s high school and professional basketball where they play 4 quarters. College teams play two halves.
***Ref, you stink! That’s 9 fouls against MSU and just 2 against Delaware State! You’re nothing but a homer!
***That was an exciting half, Madge. The Bears would be ahead by more than 33-30 if the refs hadn’t put the Hornets on the line so much. Yes, Brent Gregory seems to be our best scorer. His 7 points is high for us so far. Unfortunately that big power forward of Delaware State, Allen Menser, has decimated us with 13 points. The Bears need to contain him in the 2nd half.

***Yes, I agree Janet. The Delaware State dance team is very good. I liked that halftime show also.

***Well, Delaware State had to eventually score. But the Bears held them scoreless in the 2nd half for over 6 minutes! I just wish MSU had scored more than 4 points during that same amount of time. But a 7 point lead is good.
***Ugghhh! Yet another foul. That field goal along with the successful foul shot put the Hornets into a tie with 5 minutes left. The refs have only called 3 fouls against Delaware State the entire 2nd half.
***OK, that’s the last TV timeout. But with the score tied at 50-50, I’m sure both coaches will be calling some time outs in the final few minutes. OK, girls, we’re going to have to yell really loudly to help the Bears pull this game out.
***YES! Finally!! That was a beautiful 3 by Brent Gregory to give us a 53-50 lead with just over a minute to go. DEEEE-FENSE! DEEE-FENSE!!!
***Confound it! That 3 by the Hornets tied it up with 47 seconds to go.
***Yes, we don’t shoot free throws well at all. At least Aaron Wells made one of two, so we’re ahead by a point. But the Hornets will set up a play during the time out they called and with 31 seconds left there is plenty of time for them to score.
***Oh my god, another foul! Well, the Hornets could only hit one of two shots too. So now the Bears have 21 seconds to score.
***Good call by Coach Vandergard. Taking the clock down to 8 seconds and then calling a time out to set up a good play to score. Let’s just hope it works, Anne. I get SO nervous in these situations.
***Darn. Greg Fisher got the shot off, but was too strong with it. That means overtime. The Bears have played two games and both have gone to O.T.

***Joey Jones made both of those free throws. That puts us ahead by 6 points with 3 minutes remaining in the overtime period. 
***Way to go Bears!!! 10 points ahead with a minute twenty seconds left in the overtime. Fantastic steal by Joey Jones and an even better upcourt pass to Brent Gregory for the driving layup.
***Ohoh! Our lead is down to 5 points now and still 42 seconds remaining.
***Brent Gregory sinking both of those free throws with 11 seconds to go puts us up by 6 again. That SHOULD do it.
***My heart can’t take too many more of these kind of games. But the Bears seem to be good at pulling things out in overtime. For the entire game they shot just a little better than the Hornets, 52% to 47% and had 5 fewer turnovers. That was enough to make the difference, I guess.
***OK girls. Let’s go get that drink Barbara said she’d buy for us if the Bears won!

Final Score: Missouri State (2-0)—72, Delaware State—66 (OT).

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-23 pts, 1 assist, 6 reb, 2 steals; PG Greg Fisher-14 pts, 5 assists, 2 reb, 2 steals; PF Ricky Lee-9 pts, 4 reb, 2 steals.

Player of the Game: SG Brent Gregory-23 pts, 1 assist, 6 reb, 2 steals.

For Delaware State: SF Chris Thomas-15 pts; PF Allen Menser-13 pts, 8 reb, 4 steals.

[PointGuard 70]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne23 

Do you have Brenda's phone number?

LOL...I've heard via the grapevine that her phone is pretty busy. 

[PointGuard 70]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne23 

"Hey Big Boy, Dial 1-800-OBRENDA for a REAL good time. Know what I mean?"

When Brenda gets done with you, it will be YOU who will be saying "Ohhhhhh, Brenda!!!!"