Jun. 2—FAIRBORN — Former college basketball coaches and players of a certain age remember when the sport had a genuine offseason — lasting from the end of the final game to the first practice of the next season Oct. 15.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
The new regimen requires at least a 10-month commitment, starting this year with organized workouts and meetings Saturday, June 6.
“One of the perks of coaching used to be the schedule. I’ve just not grown up in that era,” said Wright State coach Clint Sargent, who scored 1,505 points at South Dakota State from 2007-11.
“It’s really progressively gotten more and more of your calendar, which is why we try to recruit young men we can spend time with year ’round. It’s far more than just the games. You’ve got to make sure you enjoy the people you’re with — and we have at a high level.”
Sargent pointed out how, with nearly 5,000 players entering the transfer portal this offseason, he really can count on having most of his roster for only one year. But the few he was able to retain will form a solid nucleus for the revamped Raiders.
Junior starting guard Dom Pangonis averaged 8.9 points and had the third-most 3s with 37. Junior forward Andrea Holden, the team’s best leaper, averaged 6.1 points and had 42 blocks in 35 games despite playing just 14.1 minutes per game.
Sophomore forward Kellen Pickett was the Horizon League freshman of the year and is a candidate for all-league honors. He averaged 10.3 points and 7.1 rebounds in the final 23 games after becoming a regular, and his 46 blocks are the third-most in program history
“Dom led us in minutes. Kellen has the highest ceiling of anyone who was on last year’s roster for what type of player he can be. And Andrea was going to be a starter at one point, but he felt like and we felt like he was better coming off the bench,” Sargent said.
Two redshirt freshmen will make their debuts this season: guards PJ Douglas and Isaiah Williams.
“Really, you’re looking at two and a half or three starters (coming back) in my mind from a 23-win team that won the regular-season and conference tournament and took Virginia down to the wire,” Sargent said.
“If you look at the production of those three, we can match that, I’m guessing, against (the returnees of) anyone in the league. You want to be able to say, when you’ve had a great year, that you retained a very, very important core of that success — and we have.”
The Raiders brought in eight new players, which is the norm these days. And no team — not even a glamour program like Duke — will know exactly what it has until it hits the floor.
The one factor that’s an absolute must for winning in this era is building a cohesive culture, something Sargent and his assistants, all of whom stayed, did so superbly last season.
“It starts in the recruiting process. I try to be authentic with who I am, first as a man, and who we are here at Wright State. We’re not necessarily chasing results. We’re trying to commit to a process that, I feel like, at the end of it, will produce better young men,” Sargent said.
“Admittedly, I have a lot to learn as a coach and have a lot of areas to improve. And likewise, the players in the locker room would say the same thing (about themselves). There’s just a high level of humility we’re looking for to drive everything.”
The Raiders were a connected bunch last year, but they had to replace nine players.
Six were transfers: Michael Cooper (who went to Cal), TJ Burch (Utah), Solomon Callaghan (Utah State), Alex Bruskotter (Cleveland State), Ayden Davis (D-II Ferris State) and Logan Woods (undecided).
“We had guys who cared. It’s such a simple thing. But in this era, there can be a million different things that can really be the carrot for a player and a coach and the program,” Sargent said.
“The guys that stayed aren’t thinking they’ve arrived in any sense of the word. We know, if we pour into our days, there’s areas where can improve significantly.
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