As Montana State finished stretching and prepared for its fifth practice of Brian Fish’s third season, the Bobcat men’s basketball coach pulled his star aside. Fish softly told sophomore sensation Tyler Hall, “Tyler, today I need you to pass the ball. I need to see what these other guys can do.”
Hall, last season’s Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year and a surefire preseason All-Big Sky selection, is certainly a proven commodity. Last season, Hall scored 596 points and poured in 96 3-pointers, averaging nearly 19 points per game while shooting 43 percent from distance.
The rest of the Bobcats, however, are a work in progress.
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Fish must find a replacement for steady, hard-nosed point guard Marcus Colbert. As of now, it looks like true freshman Harald Frey, a product of Oslo, Norway, is Fish’s best option. Hall might be his second-best at the point. The Bobcats also return versatile, tough senior Quinton Everett, sharpshooting 6-foot-10 senior forward Sarp Gobeloglu, slashing, athletic junior swingman Zach Green and savvy sophomore forward Sam Neumann from last season’s 14-16 squad.
But Fish overhauled the roster for a second straight off-season otherwise, adding Harald Frey and towering center Devin Kirby (AZ) from the prep ranks while bringing in guard Devonte Klines (CA), forward Joe Mvuezolo (FL) and center Benson Osayande (WY) from the junior college ranks. Fish also filled two scholarships with transfers — Konner Frey from Utah Valley and Keljin Blevins from Southen Miss — both have pending eligibility for the upcoming 2016 season. Blevins will certainly sit out as per NCAA rules while Frey, a senior, has an appeal into the NCAA to forego sitting out since he was never on scholarship at UVU.
“There’s separation because you can see experience out there with newbies,” Fish said following Wednesday evening’s two-hour-plus session. “If I say something, (the newcomers) will listen. But if Tyler or Sam or Q or Zach say something, they almost do it instantly. Getting those guys to be more confident in being vocal will get us farther along to where I want us to be.”
During the five-on-five portion to close Wednesday’s practice, Montana State looked solid with Harald Frey running the point and Hall getting his teammates involved despite Green sitting out with a side effect from the hip (labral) surgery he endured this off-season.
During one sequence later on, redshirt freshman Mandrell Worthy — a highly recruited player from Eastside Catholic in Seattle who sat out last season after knee surgery — found Mvuelzo on the wing. The athletic 6-foot-6 jumping jack from Miami Dade by way of London slashed into the lane and hoisted a floater. Osayande, a 6-foot-9 raw athlete from Casper College, skied toward the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse rafters and swatted the shot away from the rim.
“Benson, that’s exactly what I need out of you!” Fish exclaimed to the delight of the other Bobcats playing defense.
In Fish’s first season, Eric Norman proved to be a sneaky shot blocker, rejecting more than two shots a game as MSU blocked 91 shots during a 7-23 season. With the 6-foot-9 Norman gone to graduate last season, MSU blocked just 62 shots, with the 6-foot-3 Everett leading the team with 14 total swats.
“We have a lot more depth, we have a lot more athleticism, a lot more people who can play defense so we can get out and run,” Everett said. “It makes it a lot easier because now we have big guys back there who can take away two points.
“Benson, DK, I know Joe can go up and get some blocks so if we can get those guys playing a little harder, we will be good on defense.”
Fish expects Everett, Konner Frey if he earns his eligibility and Klines, a 6-foot sophomore from Saddleback (California) Junior College to serve as his primary perimeter defenders. If Osayande can hold down the middle and the 6-foot-10 Kirby can contribute defensive, Montana State has a chance, Fish said.
“It first takes confidence that they know they can gamble a little bit and know they have an eraser in the back,” Fish said. “I thought one thing that really bothered us last year that wasn’t really talked about was we had more than 100 blocks two years ago with Eric Norman was here and we dropped down to around 50 last year. Guys went in there not looking around last year. We have to get that back to where we have a guy down there. Even if we give up a backside rebound layup occasionally, somebody to make you think in there will help us.”
Later on during the 5-on-5 session, Worthy again found Mvuelzo in transition. Instead of driving to the hoop with junior walk-on Dallas Lussier guarding him, Mvuelzo pulled up for a contested 20-foot jump shot from the corner.
Fish stopped the practice and asked, “Who in this gym thought that was a good shot?” No one raised their hand.
“Joe, you have the ball in transition on the right side. Drive baseline, earn yourself two free throws or tomahawk dunk it on his ass,” Fish said in the heat of competition.
“We redirect their values. Right now, they think making a shot is getting them on the floor,” Fish said following the practice. “We shoot the ball well here. They need to learn that rebounding, getting loose balls, making the extra pass will get you on the floor with me. We have to change their values a little bit. If we had those figured out already, they wouldn’t need me.”
The scrimmage portion of the practice was filled with impressive rebounding from Blevins, a 6-foot-6 swingman with strength. Osayande and Kirby seem like more athletic options in the middle, at least defensively, than anything Fish has put on the court in his first two seasons. Harald Frey, a 6-foot-1 southpaw, handled on-ball pressure with poise, his background playing with much older competition on the European club circuit apparent right away.
“Give me some games to look at Harald, but certainly in practice, he can do some things that have some natural feel to it,” Fish said. “He is a really, really good shooter. He’s a thoughtful teammate, which is key to being a point guard. It’s not about him. He knows where shooters want the ball. But let’s throw him to the fire a little bit here and see where it goes from there.”
Frey has the ability to be a standout point guard in the Big Sky. Earlier this fall, Fish received a verbal commitment from highly touted Portland-area point guard Isaac Bonton. But Fish needs another point guard now, which is why he is trying to develop the 6-foot-2 Worthy quickly.
On Wednesday, Worthy ran the point for the last 10 minutes of practice. The session ended with Worthy and the second unit turning the ball over five consecutive times to the ire of Fish, who ended the practice with a fiery challenge to his newcomers that they must get tougher if they want to play a single minute for Montana State’s ultra-competitive head coach.
“From my experience last year, you just have to be coachable,” said Everett, who came to MSU from Little Big Horn Community College by way of his native Lakeland, Florida. “He is going to get on you because he wants you to be a better player. If you make mistakes, we just got to get our guys to know that he’s yelling not to embarrass you. He just wants you to play harder. That’s what he demands because he wants you to be great.”
[/restrict]Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
