NCDS: Jeff Tungate, Assoc. Head Coach - Oakland University
By: Jeff Tungate, Assoc. Head Coach - Oakland University
What an exciting time of year! With practice well underway, this is one of my favorite times of the year. We can work with our players 20 hours each week, catch a football game on TV, watch the World Series if time permits, and work extremely hard toward hanging another banner in the O'Rena. This is the time of year when everyone in the country thinks they have a chance to do something special. We are no different here at Oakland University. We think we have the players in place that can help us achieve something that hasn't been done at OU since 2005...a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Last year's success of a 23 win season is a distant memory. Gone are seniors Erik Kangas and Dan Waterstradt. We will certainly miss the shooting ability of Erik and the leadership of Dan. However, we have a few new faces to go with a core group of returners that should make things interesting this season.
What makes coaching such a great profession is watching players grow up right before your eyes. One of our new faces on the court will be Junior guard Larry Wright. Larry transferred a year ago from St. John's University. Larry struggled his first year at Oakland academically. Due to a poor grade in a history class last spring, I issued a challenge to Larry. He and I would spend the summer each writing a 12 page paper on the life of Frederick Douglass. At the end of the summer, we both submitted our papers to Assistant Athletics Director Holly Kerstner. Holly would judge who wrote the best paper. Being an English major, I knew I had to win this contest. Being a fierce competitor, Larry would make me earn this victory. Larry obviously spent time working on this paper. Throughout the summer, he quickly improved his writing skills and showed what a promising future he had in the classroom at Oakland. He finished with well over a 3.0 G.P.A. in the classes he took this summer (including a 4.0) and is well on his way to achieving over a 3.0 this semester. I am very proud of Larry and he is on his way to having a great career at Oakland, both on and off the floor. (By the way, I won).
Although Larry Wright will have the most immediate impact on our program from the new faces, we have several other outstanding additions that will contribute greatly to our success. Ledrick Eackles, Drew Valentine, and Travis Bader have all shown signs that they will be significant players in the future success of Oakland Basketball. All three are extremely dedicated, coachable, and hard working kids. Once they get more comfortable with our system, they will be pushing many of our returners for playing time. Another new face is Reggie Hamilton, who transferred to our program from UMKC. Reggie will have to sit this year because of the NCAA transfer rule. However, the energy and enthusiasm he brings to the floor is contagious. Plus, senior point guard Johnathon Jones will be challenged everyday in practice being guarded by Reggie. Reggie has already proven himself to be one of the top players in the Summit League so having two of the top point guards in the league doing battle everyday in practice will hopefully make both of them better players.
Speaking of returners, that is what will make this team special. We have three players who have been named to the pre-season All-Summit League team. Keith Benson, Johnathon Jones, and Derick Nelson are three outstanding players. Keith is quickly moving up the charts of NBA scouts, Johnathon returns after leading the nation in assists last year as a junior, and Derick Nelson is back after sitting out last year as a medical redshirt. Not many teams have the luxury of having a great point guard, an outstanding slasher, and a post that can score. The biggest question mark for this year's team will be can we shoot the ball well enough from the outside to open up the lane for our slashers and post players? This is where we need returners Blake Cushingberry and Drew Maynard to step up their games from a year ago. Both have the capability of being outstanding shooters. If they can become more consistent from the outside, we could be a very tough team to defend. John Kast provides us some depth at the point guard position and if you add post players Will Hudson, Ilija Milutinovic, and Jay Thames to the mix, we have size to score inside and dominate the boards. It's always nice to start a season with veteran players in key roles. After tasting defeat in the Summit League championship game last season, this group of veterans is extremely hungry to get back and make another attempt at a league championship. If our chemistry and work ethic continues at the current level, we have a legitimate chance of making that happen.
