Students are back on campus, and that includes a heralded group of Wofford’s freshmen men’s basketball players – Corey Tripp, Dante Keisenhofer, and Luke Turner – as well as a slew of young returning players who gained valuable experience last season.
I had the opportunity to talk with Coach Jay McAuley late last spring. WoffordFans published a “part one” piece earlier in the summer based on our conversation. Below are additional perspectives. For fans of Terrier hoops, I think there are some worthwhile insights here. Once again, I appreciate Coach McAuley’s time and willingness to share his thoughts on the program.
National Notoriety Boosts Recruiting.
Wofford has signed good players from outside the region for a number of years: Noah Dahlman, Cam Rundles, and Jamar Diggs, all out of Minnesota. Eric Garcia, from Colorado. Storm Murphy, from Wisconsin.
Still, McAuley said it’s gotten easier for Wofford to get a foot in the door with high school players from other parts of the country – with “players we weren’t in the equation for 5 to 10 years ago.”
Success over the past 12 years, including five appearances in the NCAA Tournament, has made a difference. McAuley said his staff works hard to identify good players and plan for travel to watch players in summer tournaments or at their high schools. But there’s no substitute for positive name recognition.
The ability to vie for talented players from outside the region is “not because of going to AAU tournaments – it’s more because of the familiarity with our brand. Then if we can get a guy to visit, they come out and say, ‘Dang, this place is sweet,’” McAuley said, referring to the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium and the overall feel of the Wofford campus.
None of this guarantees that any individual recruit will be an eventual SoCon player-of-the-year – or that the program will enjoy on-the-court success in the coming years. But an uptick in interest from high school players can only be seen as a positive thing for the future of Terrier basketball. Just this summer, two class of 2022 recruits have committed to Wofford – Jackson Paveletzke, from Wisconsin, and New Hampshire prep schooler Joshua Morissette. Both are guards who appear to have strong potential.
Protecting the Legacy, Promoting Alumni Engagement
I asked McAuley about the role of former players in the Wofford basketball program. Are they protective of the tradition? Did he have work to do to earn their buy-in? Have some lost touch with the school and program over the years?
Some of McAuley’s comments: “Mike Young used to have a ‘legends weekend’ where former players would come back, but we didn’t have that with the pandemic. So I’ve had different Zoom calls with alumni and former players. We had one before last season that was awesome – it gave them chance to see me and the rest of the staff, to hear about current team and what we’re doing.”
McAuley added: “I want to let them know this is their program. They’re always going to have a voice and a presence. And many of them are eager to come back to games, like everyone is.”
In addition, McAuley said he’s trying to enhance networking among the program’s alumni. “I picked out a representative from each decade going back to the 70s to connect with players from their era and see if we can connect with guys, create a database, so we can share news: ‘The team has an average GPA over 3.0.’ ‘Here’s a look at our schedule.’ Those kinds of things. I spend a lot of time trying to do that.”
Good Grades, Proud Coach
Wofford coaches have long stressed the importance of recruiting players who can do the academic work – it does no one any good for kids to come in and not be able to thrive academically. And the program takes pride in the overall success of student-athletes.
Last year was challenging – online classes and hybrid schedules forced students to approach school differently. They had to plan differently and organize themselves in new ways. On the whole, McAuley’s group handled things well. His staff worked hard to help.
“We have an assistant coach assigned to help each guy organize their schedule so nothing’s a surprise,” McAuley said. He noted that Wofford doesn’t have an extensive academic support program for athletes, so “you’ve got to problem solve. Some of that is recruiting the right kids, and some of it is on the staff, doing what it takes.”
Still, McAuley said, “A lot of it comes down to personal responsibility. We tell the guys to be proactive about study halls and to meet with professors and advisors. When you have to miss class, do what can do to get caught up.”
Style Of Play – McAuley Looks Forward To More Options In 2021-2022
I’m no analyst of the “Xs and Os” of basketball. There are many, many things happening out there on the court that go way over my head. All the variables coaches think through, all the strategic details they develop, all the techniques they teach their players – it’s about like my trying to understand…well, sure, rocket science.
But a few things about basketball are pretty obvious, and one is that the game appears to be moving away from the traditional rotation of two guards, a wing, and two post players. We’ve seen this at Wofford the past couple seasons. Partly, this has been out of necessity, as depth in the post was limited due to the departure of Keve Aluma as well as various injuries to key inside players. But more and more, coaches seem to favor a faster-paced style of play that emphasizes three-point shooting, ball-handling, and playmaking.
McAuley talks about “positionless basketball” – meaning not that players don’t have roles, but that those roles aren’t too rigid and that fluidity and diverse skills are emphasized.
It seems likely that the trend will continue during the upcoming season. But McAuley noted that he expects to have more options if the team can stay relatively injury-free and players develop as he hopes. Messiah Jones clearly has all-conference potential and can play at center or power forward. Sam Godwin is a talented sophomore with size, and he made an impact in his first season of college ball. BJ Mack, who transferred from University of South Florida, is a wide body with a nice shooting touch – if he’s in better condition in the months ahead, he should have a chance to shine. And David Appelgren, the 7-1 center from Sweden, came to Wofford with room to improve but has battled injuries.
A key factor may be the return of Isaiah Bigelow, who sat out last season after tearing his ACL. He’s a good (and possibly great) shooter with plenty of athleticism. At 6-7, he could be that true “stretch four” – tall enough to defend in the paint and score around the basket, but a more-than-able scorer from the perimeter who can also handle the ball. McAuley made it clear that Bigelow would have been a key contributor last season had he been available.
Some of the coach’s comments: “Offensively, there are some things I’m really, really proud of based on our roster last year. We were young at the post position, and Messiah was battling injuries. But those guys played really hard. Sometimes we were four (guards) around one (post) last season…In the past, we had been the traditional three guards, two posts motion team. And next season, we’ll have a chance do some of both.”
Excellent and insightful; thank you Baker.
Good article. Seems like the coach is open to sharing some observations and the author here is good at organizing them and putting them into perspective. On the football side, could this happen?