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Senior leadership.
That's two words---senior, and leadership.
I was listening to some guys on sports radio talking about this year's NCAA tournament and how many teams were real threats to make the Final Four. They talked about George Mason's senior laden team last year. That got me thinking.
Megan Vogel is the prototypical senior leader. A player with the experience, determination, and ability to put the team on his or her shoulders and turn a loss into a win by sheer force of will backed by enough athletic ability to make good things happen. The Jacks men haven't had a true senior leader on the court since . . . when? Austin Hanson in 2002-03? Derrick Schantz in 2003-04?
Let's look at the last few teams:
2004-05 seniors were Luke Giever, Brady Hokenson, and Jared DeJong. These names did not exactly frighten opponents. Andy Moeller bailed out when we went to D-I. He would have helped greatly in the first year of transition. Giever, Hokenson, and DeJong were, in my opinion, borderline D-II starters, let alone first-string D-I players.
2005-06 seniors were . . . nobody. Matt Jones would have been a difference-maker, but for his health issues that forced his retirement. It goes without saying that you don't have senior leadership if you don't have any seniors.
2006-07 seniors (this year) are Andy Kleinjan and Jose Frias. I think you have to be honest and say that those are two names which are not circled on opponent's whiteboards as Jackrabbits you have to hold down. They may be seniors, they may be leaders, but they're not Senior Leadership in the "come on, team, climb onto my back, I'll get you there" mode that someone like Vogel is.
Enough of looking behind. Let's look forward.
Next year, if things go well, our seniors will be Ben Beran, Mohammed Berte, Mackenzie Casey, Troy Wipf, and Michael Loney. Beran has proven he can take over a game at the D-I level. I'm sure the people in Lexington still remember that kid from South Dakota--we lost that game but won a lot of respect. I don't know if the rest of them (with the possible exception of Berte) could really take over a game, but really you only need one Senior Leader to be a threat on any given night.
The following year, our first year of NCAA tournament eligibility, our seniors will be Cadwell, and any juco player we pick up as a junior in 2007-08, if any. Cadwell can take over a game, if he has a supporting cast who can take some of the defensive pressure off of him. Fortunately, he'll have a group of solid juniors as the "supporting cast" which means that . . .
In 2009-10, the seniors will include Callahan, Yackley, Williams, Bassett, and Engen. Kai Williams has shown definite flashes of take-over-a-game ability with his play this year. Callahan and Yackley might also develop into game-changing players. Bassett and Engen are still projects but who knows how much they'll improve by the time they're seniors?
Senior Leadership. Accept no substitutes.
That's two words---senior, and leadership.
I was listening to some guys on sports radio talking about this year's NCAA tournament and how many teams were real threats to make the Final Four. They talked about George Mason's senior laden team last year. That got me thinking.
Megan Vogel is the prototypical senior leader. A player with the experience, determination, and ability to put the team on his or her shoulders and turn a loss into a win by sheer force of will backed by enough athletic ability to make good things happen. The Jacks men haven't had a true senior leader on the court since . . . when? Austin Hanson in 2002-03? Derrick Schantz in 2003-04?
Let's look at the last few teams:
2004-05 seniors were Luke Giever, Brady Hokenson, and Jared DeJong. These names did not exactly frighten opponents. Andy Moeller bailed out when we went to D-I. He would have helped greatly in the first year of transition. Giever, Hokenson, and DeJong were, in my opinion, borderline D-II starters, let alone first-string D-I players.
2005-06 seniors were . . . nobody. Matt Jones would have been a difference-maker, but for his health issues that forced his retirement. It goes without saying that you don't have senior leadership if you don't have any seniors.
2006-07 seniors (this year) are Andy Kleinjan and Jose Frias. I think you have to be honest and say that those are two names which are not circled on opponent's whiteboards as Jackrabbits you have to hold down. They may be seniors, they may be leaders, but they're not Senior Leadership in the "come on, team, climb onto my back, I'll get you there" mode that someone like Vogel is.
Enough of looking behind. Let's look forward.
Next year, if things go well, our seniors will be Ben Beran, Mohammed Berte, Mackenzie Casey, Troy Wipf, and Michael Loney. Beran has proven he can take over a game at the D-I level. I'm sure the people in Lexington still remember that kid from South Dakota--we lost that game but won a lot of respect. I don't know if the rest of them (with the possible exception of Berte) could really take over a game, but really you only need one Senior Leader to be a threat on any given night.
The following year, our first year of NCAA tournament eligibility, our seniors will be Cadwell, and any juco player we pick up as a junior in 2007-08, if any. Cadwell can take over a game, if he has a supporting cast who can take some of the defensive pressure off of him. Fortunately, he'll have a group of solid juniors as the "supporting cast" which means that . . .
In 2009-10, the seniors will include Callahan, Yackley, Williams, Bassett, and Engen. Kai Williams has shown definite flashes of take-over-a-game ability with his play this year. Callahan and Yackley might also develop into game-changing players. Bassett and Engen are still projects but who knows how much they'll improve by the time they're seniors?
Senior Leadership. Accept no substitutes.
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