Changes Galore Aren’t Necessarily a Bad Thing
Colorado State basketball enters seasons with different look
Mike Brohard
The word can conjure a host of meanings.
New can be exciting and innovative. Elicit frustration and anxiety. In the framework of a basketball team, it can do all of that in the frame of a minute of preseason practice. And beyond.
As college athletics is shaped currently, new is normal. Rosters used to change annually thanks to the simple parameters of eligibility, seniors exiting the building after four or five years. Thanks to the transfer portal, it isn’t impossible to see entire rosters change in the course of an offseason, and it doesn’t mean they won’t have success.
With the tipoff of college basketball season approaching rapidly, the norm of new has been the course of action at Colorado State in some rather large numbers. Niko Medved’s roster has 10 fresh faces, five of them freshmen. His squad has but one true returning starter, Nique Clifford.
Around the corner and down the hall to the women’s basketball offices at the McGraw Center, Ryun Williams’ women’s roster has eight unfamiliar faces, five of them freshmen. His squad entertains a trio of returning starters.
In essence, new is normal.
“Teams are complex. Everything. Your staff and players and every team is unique in and of itself, and when you have that many new guys, you’re trying to get to know them, they’re trying to get to know you,” Medved said. “It’s not just how they play, but how do they interact with each other, how do they learn best. Are they quiet, or how do they communicate – all those things. That’s a challenge.
“For me, I feel we have to embrace that part. It’s going to be different, there’s a newness to it and we’re going to have fun figuring it out.”
Both coaches and the players on their roster know the season is an everchanging organism. Getting ready for the opener – which is Nov. 4 for both Rams’ squads, the women tipping off a doubleheader with San Francisco at 5:30 p.m.; the men hosting North Dakota 30 minutes after the final buzzer.
It’s not just getting ready for the first game, because there isn’t a team in the nation which wants to be the same from start to finish. A month later the look of both teams will be varied. By March, both want to be at their peak.
A season is filled with highs and lows. So are preseason practices. By the time conference starts, freshmen and transfers alike are considered veterans of the program. Come conference tournament time, they need be polished performers.
The work never ends. Thus, the reason coaches earn paychecks.
“It’s a lot of teaching. It means change in a good way,” Williams said. “It’s fun to have new skillsets and new weapons. It means growth. To me that’s going to be key to this whole season will be can we grow our new players into competing at the right level, executing at the right level. I believe we will.
“It’s frustrating. The newness at times has been frustrating. All of that is within the same practice. One minute you’re so impressed with your freshmen, and the next trip down you’re like, ‘are you kidding me?’ This is going to get us beat on Nov. 4, so we better teach it. We have to be more thorough in how we teach it.”
The whole graduation thing guaranteed both teams were going to look and play differently. Each lost a veteran point guard. Each lost a distributor whose production was unrivaled at the school. One was a unicorn, a five-year starter at the point who scored more points than any other male had. The other was a four-year starter who scored more points than any other female not named Becky Hammon.
Both Isaiah Stevens and Makenna Hofschild were players who were better at graduation than when they arrived. In other words, old has to be new as well.
Roles change. Skills develop. They better, or players will eventually get passed in the shuffle, moved to the side. As much as Medved expects Nique Clifford to be a better player this season, Williams is looking for a better version of Marta Leimane.
So is Leimane.
“For sure. Every year I get more confident,” she said. “Every year I think more people look up to me and that gives me confidence and I try to show them why they look up to me. It’s really important to me I can be that role model for other players and help them get better.
“Every season is different. This year because we have new players, it is different. Comparing my freshman year to my sophomore year, it was a little different but the same concept. Now I think we have different concepts, and I like that. Everyone can use their skills better.”
New means adapting, especially for those joining a program. The freshmen soon realize they are no longer in high school. Practices are more intense. The weight room is no longer an option. The players you blew by on the court are no longer playing.
As for the transfers, the system is new. The program you’re joining doesn’t do things the same way. Your teammates are looking at you, wondering what you’ll add to the equation. Your resume carries a bit more merit.
And expectations.
Every year what will really define us is how we handle and accept roles in a way of caring more about the team, putting the team over yourself, so when we have adversity, how do we respond to that.Niko Medved
You’re also coming to a program where Medved has altered his system to fit his roster, but he has never waivered from the core values. As he said, there aren’t a lot of rules, but there are standards. The non-negotiable kind.
“It’s a group of players that you have who are good dudes and just want to get better. The coaches are the same way, embracing everybody no matter where they’re from or what role they’re going to be in,” said Ethan Morton, a transfer from Purdue. “The positivity is high. He’s still on us hard and pushing us to get better, but also coming over and patting us on the back. It’s a great balance and something I’ve enjoyed being part of.
“They made it very clear you’re going to have a ton of freedom, but freedom with accountability. They set those standards, and they make it easy for you to live by those. They’re easy to incorporate when you have the right guys, and they’ve got the right guys.”
Having the right players is just the first step. It can make or break what Medved feels will lead to a team being successful or fall apart. Those summer workouts are exploratory, to see what each and every individual can add to the mix. Some of the freshmen may need more development, and that’s OK. Some of the transfers will flash an ability a coach will want to blend into the offensive or defensive side of the court.
As practices amp up toward the start of a season, things will start to solidify. A bit. When the lights are on at Moby Arena, players will have roles, but will they actually embrace them?
“Determining roles is still the biggest thing that has to happen, and then it’s accepting those roles. Every year what will really define us is how we handle and accept roles in a way of caring more about the team, putting the team over yourself, so when we have adversity, how do we respond to that,” Medved said. “You don’t know what kind of season you’re going to have until you’ve faced those things and see what your response is. If you’re able to handle those things well, you have a chance to have a really good year.
“Sometimes you have everybody back and early on it might seem easier, but it might be a challenge too. It’s not going to be the same. Roles are going to change. We have so much new this year, everybody knows it’s new. There’s almost no expectation of roles, so everyone is in it to try and figure it out. In a way, it almost becomes more malleable. You have a way to figure it out in its own unique way because none of it has been set in stone.”
It would be great if that always happened early, leading toward a comfort level to set in and confidence to grow. Then again, maybe there’s an injury which takes a player out for a week or longer. It could also be somebody in a lesser role who starts to show they deserve one more amplified – accept what you have but push for more.
Williams knows his fanbase is going to need a game program when the season tips off. They won’t recognize the lineup, thought one name will look awfully familiar. What he is most excited about is their impression of the team in March, because he’s confident they won’t see the same team.
“What our fans are going to really like watching is the growth and development of this team. There’s going to be different phases,” he said. “They’ll be asking who is this squad on Nov. 4, in the program wondering who are these kids. Come mid-December, I think they’ll see a whole new team. I’m excited about this team, because they’re eager to learn, eager to try new things we are challenging them to do. You need new stuff, different stuff in your game to compete at this level. I know our fans are going to love watching the growth of this team.
“That’s the frustration sometimes. We’re asking everybody to do something different than in previous years. Thus, the fun in watching them develop and grow in these new roles. I’ve been really impressed with all the kids in what we’ve asked them to do and how their roles have changed. They’re buying into it, and their try is really good. Without a doubt, they’re going to get there. Everybody is going to be asked to have more responsibilities at both ends of the floor. It’s how quickly they grow will determine how well we play early in the season in this challenging non-conference.”
What you see know is not what you’ll see then. Both coaches are banking on the fact. So are the players, because each and every week the play becomes different.
They see their teammates become more comfortable with an assignment the more times they run through it in practice. They can feel their own confidence rise with the passing of time. They’ve gotten a chance to know each other, even trust each other. What they believed was true two weeks ago is in the past.
“I’ve done that a lot. Every time you sort of see it a certain way or almost get comfortable, it’s we’re going to add another layer and another layer,” Morton said. “That’s what’s great about this coaching staff, and I’ll learn more about them as the season goes on, but it’s just their ability to adjust on the fly and have different things in place for matchups. It will be cool to see that growth and diversification as the season goes on. It’s been a lot of change, and in a lot of good ways.”
New. It’s going to be that way every season, in some way shape or form. At Colorado State, there’s an abundance of the stuff, particularly in learning who is currently on the roster. Learn the names and get to know them. Maybe for now. Possibly for the future.
A few months ago, both programs felt they had time on their side. Now, time is running out before they trot out the revamped product. For both coaches, new has been fun more than anything. Same for the returning players seeing the changes all around them.
“I like the new people. I like the change,” Leimane said. “I like that every season is different and that we get to do new things. I think it’s good you can show other teams the new players, and they don’t know what to expect. I think it’s good to have a new team and everybody is getting better.”
Which is the one true constant. Getting better. Being a threat, a conference challenger, a team which can pursue a postseason berth and be part of the madness.
Because the fun isn’t just being new, it’s being new and improved.
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