Ryun Williams Can't Wait to Watch His Garden Grow. Both of Them.
Coach will hit camp with a restructured roster
Mike Brohard
Like everybody else, Ryun Williams was looking for a way to relax. To find inner peace. When spring finally came to Fort Collins, the window of opportunity opened to his yearly retreat.
To his flower garden.
“My flowers look really nice,” he said. “I like my flower garden. My yard looks really nice.”
There’s a mix of annuals and perennials. There just has to be. He likes his daisies and sunflowers, with a blend of petunias, geraniums and begonias.
“A splash here and there,” he described. “A potato plant, some variegated vine and the viola is very pretty right now.”
And over there, under the tree, are his impatiens. Horticulturalist Williams explains they like the shade.
They are the perfect flower for the coach in him, too, the guy who is, well, growing impatient.
While the coronavirus has slowed many activities, the Colorado State women’s basketball roster has been under constant construction. Last week’s signing of Spanish guard Maria Torres makes it seven new players who will join the Rams this season, including four true freshmen. There are a trio of transfers in the mix, and don’t forget Sydney Mech and Bengisu Alper, transfers who joined the team last year and are finally able to compete.
Maybe you’re not familiar with impatiens. Or maybe you just know them by their other name – touch-me-not. Kinda like his team.
All these new pieces are in place, yet the Rams are unable to do anything at this point. It’s driving them all a bit crazy. Like flowers, a team needs time to develop and bloom under the right conditions, but the growing season for basketball has yet to begin.
Still in the shadows.
“We’re going to have to rebuild our chemistry, because obviously we have a lot more new faces,” said senior guard Tori Williams, one of three returning starters on roster. “I think it will be a good step in the right direction, and it won’t be hard for us to rebuild that chemistry, because all the returners are super nice and willing to help the new people learn all the new things that need to be learned.”
Williams – the coach – is convinced the team will benefit from the added competition which is coming to Moby Arena. There is a mix of young blood and experience, a dab of international flair. They check the boxes of need, for added depth and the ability to keep anybody from feeling too comfortable in their current roles.
Already, he’s watching film. Recent clips from last season, when the Rams were the top defensive team in the Mountain West (allowing just 59.7 points per game), but just ninth in scoring offense. The result was a 12-18 record as they dropped 10 games by five points or fewer, including the final two to Air Force, the last leading to a first-round exit from the conference tournament.
He’s also rewatching film of the players he has added. What they do well, how they move, share and help. It’s the only thing he can do at this point, and while he’s avoiding getting too far ahead of himself, it does present ideas.
As well as hope.
“You’re trying to go through each kid’s skill set and their strengths and how we can use that,” Ryun said. “Obviously, we have to get better. Who in that group is really going to help us move the needle? Each of them have their strengths, and it’s exciting to think about that, and it’s also exciting to get here and start competing. That’s the thing as coaches that really excites us. It’s going to be competitive. If you want to take a couple of days off and just go through the motions, you’ll get blown by so fast.
“That’s how you get better, to foster competition, and we’ve certainly improved our roster that way. We’re going to get better because everything’s going to be much more competitive because of our depth.”
Even the incoming players see the trend. Two of them are in-state products, and Cali Clark from Cherry Creek High School has been paying attention for some time. Her desire was to represent the Centennial State as a collegian, and by watching the recruiting process outside of her own, she likes the plan.
“I know a couple of the girls already, and I’ve been playing with one for a little bit,” Clark said, referring to club teammate Makayla Hemingway, who attended Cherokee Trail. “I think he’s trying to change how he’s going about it. A lot of the new girls coming in, we’re all tall, we’re big. The new recruit from Spain, she’s a 6-foot point guard. I think he’s trying to grow in a different way than he has in the past, to attack the Mountain West differently.”
Of the returning Rams, which also includes a few key bench pieces, Williams – the guard – may be the biggest beneficiary to the turnover and the new attack.
A year ago, the transfer from Utah took a team-first approach. A two-guard by trade, she spent the majority of the year running the point. She didn’t complain, but she also admits the spot is not her most natural fit. Within the ranks of the newest Rams, there are multiple options for filling the role and allowing Tori to flow with the offense, not control it, and use her natural abilities to construct a more productive season.
The head coach appreciates what the player gave up, and he could see on the court at times where it was constricting her game somewhat. So yeah, she’s excited about the possibilities, but she’s still willing to do what the team needs her to do most.
But honestly – fingers crossed – she’s not at the point, just producing them.
“We have some different kids who can play the point,” Ryun said. “I think Tori a lot just for sacrificing for the team, and that took away her scoring ability, to be honest. Getting her off the ball will help her, so we’ve gone out and gotten some different kids who can play the point position and take the pressure off of Tori there.”
That’s how you get better, to foster competition, and we’ve certainly improved our roster that way. We’re going to get better because everything’s going to be much more competitive because of our depth.Ryun Williams, Women's Basketball Coach
Torres has played internationally at the point. So did Alper. Hemingway has grown up at the point. Now he just needs to get them in gym and let it all play out.
With all the new players, it would have been nice to have a full summer. None of them believe it can’t get accomplished, as they figure to get in the normal eight weeks they would have before classes start, or at least close enough.
The returners may be the most curious, trying to figure out how things might change. The new players are anxious to see what the next step really feels like.
“I think having a lot of girls coming in this year gives us a lot of opportunity,” Clark said. “There are no spots set for anybody. Seven new girls, that’s half of the team. There’s a lot of opportunity, and all of us are going to probably work a lot harder to get the spot that we want. I’m excited to meet all these girls, see what they’re about, see how they play.”
Having left campus in March, the veteran Rams have been following the advice of strength and conditioning coach Brandon Mikulecky, as well as the voluntary workouts and drills passed along by the coaches, a mix of personal and team development in those sessions.
As Tori said, this is a time for all of them to be self-motivated. She was driving her family and neighbors nuts dribbling a basketball every day, her home in Boise not equipped with a basket. At least now gyms are starting to open, and working on her shot feels like heaven again.
Still, it’s not a replacement for the real thing, and as a leader, she will feel a responsibility to push the pace when old and new come together for the first time.
“I feel being a returner is a big responsibility, but I know everybody is anxious to get back. I know as soon as we get on campus, everybody is going to be willing to put their all in and just get back to what we love,” she said. “College basketball is always about being competitive and wanting to play and going to that school because you think you’re going to play. When we get back, it will be competitive. It should be. It’s what’s good for us. We live for competition, which is why we play the sport we do.”
Change, the guard said, can be scary, but it can be good. Roster change is not new to her, nor to Ryun, as his team has seen a wave of activity for the past few seasons. This time, they all see it as a promising opportunity, a step in a new direction.
It just has to wait. For now, it’s all about tending to the flowers which Tori says have been described to her and the team. At length.
Ryun’s team will have a chance to blossom soon enough. A good gardener like himself understands the planting plan of when shade is needed and when it’s time to expose sprouts to the light.