The Kee to Coaching: The Season is Here!
Practice is now less than 48 hours away, and I couldn't be more excited! For college basketball coaches, the first day or practice is like Christmas or like the feeling of anticipation for an upcoming birthday. At the Division 3 level, we aren't allowed to do anything basketball-related with our guys until October 15th. Fortunately, that day is approaching, and we will finally be allowed to teach and coach our guys. This is also a busy weekend for the entire school and athletics department. It is "Green and Gold Weekend", which is our version of homecoming. We have a ton of alumni on campus, and have a number of individuals playing in our basketball, alumni game tomorrow morning.
At Keuka, we fully believe in the Division 3 model, and we will have two tryouts this Sunday. We are expecting 19 young men to try out, and we will cut that number down to 15-17. Coach Phillips and I worked our butt's off and we were able to get a number of talented individuals to come to Keuka. We spent countless hours on the road, and on the phone, and we can't wait to see what these guys can do at the college level. The college game is a lot faster and has some differences from the high school game. It is always interesting to see how these newcomers do in the first couple of practices, in comparison to our returners. Along with our freshmen class, we have a number of upperclassmen who will be stepping into new roles this season. We can't wait to see which guys have really progressed and have taken the next step in their development. It's amazing how much a team can differ from season to season, but we are excited to get to work with this 2016-2017 edition of the Keuka College Men's Basketball Team!
The first couple of practices are pivotal for us. They will give us a feel for which players we will be able to count on, our style of play, and what offense and defenses we should run. Because of how young we are this season, we will spend our first couple of practices teaching our guys the fundamentals of the game. Every coach teaches the game a bit differently, and all of our players need to be on board with the terminology and habits that Coach Phillips and I teach and expect. It's always tough adjusting to a new coaching staff and new teammates. With a large number of freshmen this season, things will be ugly at first, but we will be able to count on our upperclassmen to bring the younger guys up to speed.
Coach Phillips developed a "leadership council" with a few of our upperclassmen this year, and the leadership with our team, during the preseason, has been great. We look forward to the ongoing process of developing leadership and hope that it translates on the court! We are about a month away from our first game on November 15th, against Hobart College. This game will be our only home game of the first semester. I look forward to keeping everybody in the loop, in regards to the progress of our team this season!
