Chemistry. Hard work. Discipline.
These are the three main principles that first-year head coach Kevin Broadus is trying to instill into this year’s men’s basketball squad.
‘We have to learn to play together, and I think that was a big Achilles’ heel from last year’s team,’ Broadus said at Binghamton University’s media day on Oct. 10. ‘We have individuals, but now we have to mold those to good team players.’
And a month later, as the season is set to begin, that is still one of Broadus’ main concerns.
‘We are just trying to play as a team, that’s our biggest thing right now,’ he said. ‘We have to have our teammates back and be a unit, and we are getting there and working hard at getting there.’
THE SENIOR LEADERS
While the focus is togetherness, there is one individual throughout this season that the Bearcats will look to and rely on time and time again: senior point guard Mike Gordon.
Selected to the preseason all-conference team, Gordon will be pivotal in leading this team on both sides of the ball, averaging 10.9 ppg and 4.0 apg last season while leading the conference, and ranking 18th in the nation in steals (2.5 spg) and being named to the America East all-defensive team.
Gordon will lead a new Binghamton offensive system that the team ‘ including himself ‘ is still getting used to, but is nonetheless excited for.
‘There is a lot more cutting and it will make good passers look like great passers,’ Gordon said. ‘Everyone’s getting better at it and hopefully we’ll know it to a ‘T’ when conference play comes around, and then it’ll be hard for anyone to stop us.’
The Bearcats didn’t have a problem putting points on the board last season, averaging 65.7 ppg, which was good enough for third in the conference, and will return three of the conference’s top 20 scorers.
Along with Gordon, senior Richard Forbes, the team’s leading scorer from last season averaging 11.9 ppg, will look to continue to be an offensive threat. While his primary role involved coming off the bench as a sixth man, he isn’t concerned about that this season.
‘Our team chemistry is amazing compared to last year,’ Forbes said. ‘Attitudes are changed and we are all there for one another.’
A NEW PHILOSOPHY
While team chemistry on and off the court is a big first step for this club and one that will obviously help, now it’s about execution. And that’s where the discipline comes in.
‘As far as our offense goes, it takes a lot of discipline,’ Broadus said. ‘There is a lot of movement and motion and cuts, and you’ll see a system that, if you don’t have discipline, you can’t play in it.’
That will hopefully help turn around a Bearcats team that was second to last in the conference in assists, averaging 10.41 apg ‘ a stat directly related to a lack of discipline in last year’s team.
‘When things start to break down, we have to stay disciplined and manage to get a good or great shot,’ Gordon said. ‘Discipline is going to play a big part for us offensively and defensively.’
While the offense was one of the best in putting points up, the Bearcats’ defense was one of the worst in giving them up. BU allowed 66.1 ppg, second to last in the AE, but the team is confident that things will be different.
‘You are going to see more of that Binghamton intensity back ‘ that get up in your face, hard-nosed defense,’ Gordon said.
In the 2005-2006 season, the Bearcats were second in the league, giving up 61.5 ppg. And the year before that, Binghamton was third, giving up 63.4 ppg.
‘We want to play more aggressively, which we kind of shied away from last year, but this year it’s back,’ Gordon said. ‘We want to pressure and force turnovers and get easy buckets.’
And this is where, once again, hard work comes into play.
‘Hard work can make up for mistakes,’ Gordon said. ‘If you get beat on defense, but you hustle back, you can recover.’
‘Our motto is we are going to try to out-work guys,’ Broadus said. ‘We may not be faster or bigger than most teams, but we are going to put our best effort out and go from there.’
ATHLETIC, BIG MEN
The Bearcats are hoping, however, that their athleticism will make up for a lack of height.
Sophomore Lazar Trifunovic, an all-rookie selection last year averaging 10.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg, is the conference’s leading returning rebounder. At 6 feet 8 inches, Trifunovic is more comfortable in the forward role but may have to play center many times this season.
With 6-foot-11-inch junior center Jaan Montgomery out for what could be up to a month with an injury, senior 6-foot-8-inch center Giovanni Olomo will have to pick up the slack at the five spot. Olomo averaged 15.2 minutes per game last season, but only averaged 1.4 ppg and he knows he is going to have to step up into a more vital role this season.
‘The five position is going to be crucial and a lot more involved in things,’ said Olomo, who is also going have to stay out of foul trouble if he wants to make a successful contribution. Olomo committed 77 fouls last season in 25 games, fouling out five times.
The Bearcats’ other big man, sophomore 6-foot-9-inch center Miladin Kovacevic, will also miss significant time with a back injury that could sideline him up until conference play or even the whole season, again limiting Binghamton’s size down low.
But the team isn’t concerned about its lack of size in the low post.
‘This is the most athletic team since I’ve been here,’ Gordon said. ‘We have guys that can jump out of the gym.’
And Broadus knows that he can only use what he has available.
‘I kind of want to play big, but I don’t know if we can,’ he said. ‘Our guards are very small but we are still trying to figure things out with our big guys out, but we’ll have to play small.’
Forbes, who stands at 6 feet, has heard all of this talk about height before and isn’t buying into it.
‘Size is never an issue, it’s about heart,’ he said. ‘We have a solid team and our size means nothing.’
THE NEW CLASS
But using their athleticism, hard work and hustle to make up for a lack of a back-to-the-basket center has a lot to do with the newcomers. Five freshmen and two junior transfers make up this year’s recruiting class and it’s one that has a lot of potential and will look to make an immediate impact.
‘We have a very, very good set of new guys,’ Forbes said. ‘I have to work very hard in practice going against them competing. Every time they get on the court, they want to show what they have and improve.’
‘They are amazing,’ Montgomery added. ‘We are going to need contributions from every one of them.’
But there are a few players from that group who could have more of a role right away, including the junior transfers Milos Klimovic and Reggie Fuller, and freshman Moussa Camara.
Klimovic, a 6-foot-7-inch forward, averaged 14.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg for Hillsborough College (Fla.) last season while shooting 42 percent from the 3-point range.
‘I’m looking for him [Klimovic] to be an impact player right away,’ Broadus said. ‘Milos is experienced and a very good shooter.’
There is no question Klimovic can shoot lights-out from anywhere on the court as he has shown several times in practice. And while he will be able to help out on the boards and open things up for his teammates with his jump shot, if Klimovic wants to stay out there on the court, he is going to have to play solid defense.
That is also something that Fuller understands too, no matter how much of a highlight reel he can be.
‘Coach’s main concern is that we play good defense,’ said Fuller, who averaged 8.0 ppg and a team-high 6.2 rpg at Angelina College (Texas) this past winter.
Fuller showed off what he can do when he is open around the basket at Late Nite Madness when he competed and lost in the finals of the slam dunk competition. And during practices, the 6-foot-6-inch forward has left the coaches and players oo-ing and aah-ing on numerous occasions with his dunks.
And Camara, who started in the team’s opening game last night, is the tallest of the freshmen at 6 feet 5 inches, and with a tall, lanky body can grab rebounds and hit the outside shot. At The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla., he averaged 17.6 points and 8.7 rebounds his senior season.
The four remaining freshmen, Devon McBride, Brandon Herbert, Chad Henry and Chretien Lukusa, are guards, and while it’s still up in the air as to who will see the most minutes, they all will make a difference and add something to the team.
‘One guy can’t win games,’ Broadus said. ‘It helps you win games when your second team is just as good as the first team and guys are pushing each other in practice day in and day out.’
‘We have athletes every year I’ve been here,’ Gordon added. ‘We just have to stick together.’
EXCITEMENT FROM DAY ONE
It may take a few games for the team to start firing on all cylinders, but with the combination of last year’s experienced players, the newcomers and a new coaching staff highlighted by Broadus, the team expects big things.
‘We are trying to win every game,’ Gordon said. ‘The games are played on the court and anything can happen. It’s about who wants it more. ‘
And the fans aren’t the only ones who are excited for tomorrow night’s home opener against Quinnipiac at the Events Center.
‘Everybody’s excited ‘ now it’s time to step on the court,’ Gordon said. ‘It’s been a long wait and the last couple of months have seemed long, but I’m ready to go. I just want to be out there playing.’
The team has been working together and putting in long hours, but now it’s hoping its success in the offseason will carry over to the games.
‘We have a lot of people who want it,’ Forbes said. ‘Everyone has to be on the same page when we are on the court.’
And the Bearcats are hoping that page turns into a long book of victories.