Seeing Signs in a Season of Adjustments
Medved out to push this team to its peak
Mike Brohard
The quest is always the same for Niko Medved and his staff. Take the roster at hand and help it achieve peak performance.
Before the season started, there was a plan with the roster intact. Then it seemed like every new week the plan needed to be redrawn and defined. Players were out. Then back in. Then a new player was out for a spell. Then for good.
The Rams have had to plant the pivot foot and readjust at just about every turn.
“Whenever you go in, there’s always expectations. Our expectations would always be high in what we think we can do,” Medved said. “Ultimately, once the season starts, the only thing you really control is can we become the best version of ourselves. Can we take this group and become the best team we can possibly be?
“I think we’ve made some strides, but we’re not there yet. Until you feel like you’re there yet, you just have to keep going, keep working and finding ways to improve individually and collectively. That’s our charge right now, and I still feel we can be better than we’re playing. That’s what we have to keep going to work on.”
The run of injuries have been staggering. As a team, they’ve already lost more player games due to injury than the past three seasons combined. The biggest slap Medved ever took was his first season at Colorado State, and this team will surpass that easily.
Knock on wood, cross fingers or rub a rabbit’s foot, Medved and the team hope they’re to a point where they can move forward through the rest of the season sans more surprises. Even the flip of the calendar didn’t bring good news. Freshman Kyle Evans, just as he was earning more minutes and gaining some confidence was lost for the year with a broken finger. In practice. While not on the court.
That type of year.
From that point forward, Medved had nine scholarship players at his disposal. The task was the same, but the design had to be different in order to get this group to reach its ceiling. That was six games ago, and despite a recent run which could leave a team demoralized a bit, the Rams forge forward. Amid the current run of one win in the past four games, they all feel it is getting closer.
“I think something we cannot do is get discouraged. A lot of frustration is we’ve shown in spurts that we play with toughness and an edge,” newcomer Patrick Cartier said. “Most of the San Diego State game, the second half against Wyoming … How do you bring that mindset for every single game and be consistent with that while being able to execute?
“Earlier in the season we had guys in and out of the lineup. These last few games, we’ve had a more consistent rotation. It’s not an excuse by any stretch, but I think we’re a bought-in group and we’re together. If we want to win games and go on a little run here, we have to keep coming together.”
On a team seeking a consistent push each game, Cartier has been a bright light. The transfer from Division II Hillsdale College is riding a current string of nine consecutive games in double figures, a run which began a game before the Mountain West season opened.
He is one of six Rams to have appeared in all 21 games, starting 10, and since conference play began, he’s become one of the team’s most consistent threats in the paint. Of that group of six, only one of them has started every game, John Tonje.
Change has been rampant, and the Rams are looking for more in a positive regard. At 10-11 on the year and 2-6 in Mountain West play, they’re finding what they can build from, and they can do that even in the current stretch of games.
Three in a row in overtime and the next down to the final play, the Rams see a way ahead.
“We can compete with anybody. We’ve played every team close besides New Mexico, and we know we didn’t play well or compete at the level we can,” Isaiah Rivera said. “That’s what we’re thinking. We can compete with anyone. If we clean up some things and win a few games, everybody is looking at us way different.
“It’s new mindsets. It’s new toughness. It’s just knowing we can compete with anybody. I believe every single person on this team is bought in. There’s not one person who is like this season is over, I’m going to go get my own. Every single person on the team is, what do we have to do to flip this around?”
We’ve been putting ourself in position to win these games, and now we have to find a way to keep growing and steal more of these.Niko Medved
Start with the cleanup, because Medved does. Those four games all came down to the wire, which is generally the norm in conference play against opponents who know you so well. But while the focus may be on what happens the final minute, the 39 prior mean just as much to the outcome.
Medved can count the ways. Making the easy layup. Boxing out so a teammate can get a rebound. Setting the right screen and helping defensively at the right time. Take a better shot.
When the margins are slim, every possession counts. Even the one with 10 minutes remaining the first half.
“I think we’ve improved. I think we’ve improved on the defensive end in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “I think we’re improving some things chemistry wise. We’ve obviously been very, very competitive in all these games – we had three in a row that went into overtime and another on Saturday which went down to the last possession. Unfortunately for us, we were able to win one of those and didn’t find a way in the others.
“We’ve been putting ourself in position to win these games, and now we have to find a way to keep growing and steal more of these.”
None of them are going to deny there’s a hole to crawl out of, but the conference schedule doesn’t hit the halfway point until the team travels to Boise State this Saturday. Every game, every possession is an opportunity to move forward.
As of late, the Rams have known who they have available, and no longer are they wondering if this player or that one will come back sooner or later. They are who they’re going to be, and in some ways, they think the knowledge has helped them settle in and move forward.
If a team wants consistent play, consistent requests are a great step.
“The benefits are the guys have a clear understanding of their roles on both ends on the floor and what that’s going to look like for them and what we need from them in their role for us to be successful,” Medved said. “Those things are becoming clear for guys, and hopefully that frees them up to play a lot more aggressive and understand what we need from them for us to be the best version of ourself.”
Success is a natural confidence builder. The Rams may be low in supply right now, but there’s still a definite demand. Getting close is a step. Taking the next step is much harder.
None of them are shying away from the task. What they are now, they are rather blunt in what comes next.
“I feel like everyone is still confident. We know who we are,” Rivera said. “We are starting to find out more who we are, but the only thing we can do now is come together even more. We’re a put together group, but there’s only one direction that will get us to winning games, and that’s being more together.”
Right now, the Rams are as together as they’re going to be, with nine healthy players giving them a nice number to work with for a rotation. Not everybody plays great every night on any team. But as a team there can be a consistent effort given. What Medved has seen recently has left him encouraged.
It’s a start. Through all the change, the expectation has never changed – which is go into a game seeking wins. To be a threat at the perfect moment, which is always at the end of the season.
“We always have high expectations for ourselves. You have to embrace your role, and I think we’re starting to find our roles a little better with a consistent rotation,” Cartier said. “I don’t think our expectations have ever changed. We have trust and faith in each other and the work we’ve put in.”
But the plan has in how exactly to live up to those expectations. No one will convince Medved the high point for this year’s team is to simply be competitive. No, he sees the ceiling as much higher, and there’s no better time to raise the roof than at this very moment.
“Our charge is can we build on some of the improvement we’ve made here in the last couple of weeks and keep fighting, keep growing and keep getting better,” he said. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse. That’s our charge. If we can do that, hopefully we can get some momentum going down the stretch.”