First off, starting with high school baseball the season is maybe three (3) months long. So, you start from tryouts in late February you end in the middle of May to the middle of June. So, you have three to four months in there that you are practicing for baseball during . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Brady Shoemaker]]>

Brady Shoemaker

First off, starting with high school baseball the season is maybe three (3) months long. So, you start from tryouts in late February you end in the middle of May to the middle of June. So, you have three to four months in there that you are practicing for baseball during the whole year. That’s all you do for high school is three to four months of the year.

Once I l left high school I went to junior college (Olney Central). There you are have fall baseball. You have the month of Christmas off. Then you go right back into baseball. All you have off from junior college baseball is the summer. Then you go play baseball again. That’s really the main difference from high school baseball to junior college… was time.   Lifting wise in junior college we did a whole lot more lifting. You start to hit the weights more. Obviously more than you did in high school you work out five days a week, maybe six days.  A lot of the guys are more interested in working out at the college level. You have to, to stay healthy, get stronger and keep up with all the competition.

A step farther is when I left junior college and went to Indiana State. There you have people helping you. You have two or three strength coaches trying to make you stronger. Same thing you are working out five or six days a week there. They have more knowledge. They are giving you workouts to do. In junior college I was doing my own thing. I am working out whatever I want to work out. At ISU they will help you; they have strength coaches there showing you what to do. They can give you a weight plan if you wanted them to, a diet plan keeping you on the right weight.

I feel like from high school to junior college I got stronger but from junior college to ISU I got a lot stronger. I matured a lot more and that was the difference. That helped me in baseball. It helped me hitting the ball, throwing the ball, running, and kept me in better shape. I felt stronger throughout the year and that’s from working out.

Now, with minor league baseball, it’s an everyday deal. I am there for six to seven months out of the year. Last year we had six or seven scheduled days off in six months. So, you are everyday working out. You are everyday at the field, from two o’clock to ten or eleven o’clock at night. You have to eat right; you have to work out right. If not, halfway through the season, your body will start to break down,… you will get tired and what not. So, from high school where it is three (3) months to minor league baseball where I am at right now it’s every day. It’s a wear and tear on you.

Brady Shoemaker

There are a lot of intricate parts of baseball that you learn with each step. There are things that I wish I would have known when I was playing in high school. Talking to people in minor league baseball makes a difference. When I have a day off, I sit with the pitchers and I will ask them how they would pitch to someone or how they would pitch to me. Just hearing what they say,  I wish I would have known that when I was back in high school. He (the pitcher) is going to try to throw me an inside fastball on this count, or he is going to throw a pitch low and away to me here. I just wish back in high school I would have known that. In high school I just went up just to see the ball and hit the ball. Now you start to learn why guys pitch you this way, what they are trying to do, what they want to do. It’s kind of like a game of cat and mouse. While I am out there hitting I am thinking what he wants to throw me right now. You are going to guess right every once in a while. So, that’s the difference, in high school I wish I would have known some of that stuff.

Last year I had an opportunity to go back to the high school and hit with them (Northview in Brazil, IN). I think I did three weeks in a row. I went up there early in the morning. Coach MacDonald started getting them to go in in the morning to hit, which is great.  I  worked with some of the kids. I wish when I was younger I could have learned something from someone older. I enjoyed that, I enjoyed going back, helping them, working out with them it helped me. I even ran with them a couple of times to see what they were doing and to help me get back into shape before I left. I enjoyed seeing how the kids are working, all the kids dream about going to college to play or even farther past that. So it’s enjoying for me to watch kids trying and giving the extra effort that is needed. What’s fun for me is when I go back and the kids ask me questions. Because, I was in the same situation five or six years ago, when I didn’t know what I know now. They were asking me what all do you need to do, how much more do I need to work, what do I need to work on. That’s more enjoying for me because I can tell them you can do all you want to do, hit more, hit as much as you want. You are only going to get better by as much work as you put in to it. I enjoy going there and a kid comes up and asks me, “what else can I work on”.

I have been following ISU since I left; I followed their last two weekends. I still talk to a lot of the guys to see how they are doing. I think they are going to have a good year. They all have to come together, play together, mesh as a team and they will have a good year.

I don’t have any regrets on where I went to school out of high school. I have learned every step of the way people has been there to help me. I have been taught well. I enjoyed my two (2) years in junior college. I learned a lot in those two years. That’s all I did for two years was baseball. Junior college was a small town and it was baseball six – seven days a week and I enjoyed that. I learned a lot from Coach (Dennis) Conley. It’s was junior college –it wasn’t fancy. We took two (2) small vans to all our games… that’s including all our equipment in the vans. The vans held ten or eleven people and you are taking twenty-five people to the games. You have guys laying on each other. So you learn to appreciate what I am getting now in Minor League baseball. In Minor League you get fed every once in a while. You take Turner buses. I have learned to appreciate that a whole lot more from where I came from. But…there’s nothing I would change from all of that.

You to meet a lot of people in Minor League ball. The first year you play with a group of guys. Then when you go back to spring training you still have those guys but now you have other guys that played on different teams. I have talked to ten or fifteen guys that I have met through Minor League baseball just to see what they are doing in the off-season. Some of the guys go home and get jobs; a lot of the guys went back to school like I did in the fall. They take classes then after fall school is over they kick it into gear. You learn from what everyone else is doing too.

The difference between my first and second year in the minors is the time. My first year, I was there from June until the beginning of September. Last year I arrived in Arizona in March. I was in Arizona from March until April. I flew from Arizona to North Carolina. I was in North Carolina until June; I came home maybe one or two days for All-Star break. I was then back there until September. So from March until September I was basically gone.

You learn it’s a long season, so there are ups and downs. I struggled at the beginning of the year and I was real hard on myself. You think it’s the end of the world and are a month into the season and you are hitting 250. You are hard on yourself and you have to realize there are still three months left.  You are not even half-way through the season. So, basically, what I learned last year is it’s a long season. It’s a grind. You can’t have too many ups and too many downs. You just have to stay mellow through the whole year. It’s more mental on you than it is physical.

This year I am not sure where I will start off the season. I just want to go out to spring training, do the best I can. They will put me where they think I should be. From there… I just play the best I can and let everything else take care of itself. They don’t tell anyone where we are going. They might hint around about it but we don’t know. They haven’t told me anything and they don’t need to tell me anything. I will just go out and they will just put me where they think I need to be. They can’t keep me down if I am playing well. So as long as I do what I can do then –the rest will take care of itself.

It was really neat having two other Sycamores on the team last year. (Nick) Ciolli’s locker was to the left and (Jacob) Petricka’s locker was to the right. Basically similar to how it was at ISU. The day Petricka got drafted Nick and I was in a hotel room, he (Jacob Petricka) texted Nick or I and told us that he maybe was going to be with us. We were excited and we were joking around about how we were all three back together. It ended up being that way. We had a good time together and it was neat. Nobody else on our team is like that. We are the only guys that went to school with each other. They were all joking around about us. We have five, six or seven guys in the White Sox’s organization that played at ISU. So that’s pretty neat. That bond helped out when we go to spring training, Nick and I were there and it was the first time going through that. You don’t know what to expect going down there. Having each other, being around each other, working out together helped out a lot.

My family has always been there from the point I got started playing on a traveling team when I was younger until now. They have always been my biggest supporters, my mom, dad, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, everybody. They are obviously my biggest supporters. They followed me around everywhere. That’s appreciated, when I can go to the game and see my family in the crowd and friends come to watch, that means a lot to me.

As far as coaches, Coach Conley helped me out tremendously. He has probably helped me out the most just coming from high school. Learning the six days a week of baseball, …teaching me a lot of things. He’s probably been the biggest support with baseball that I have had. Like I have said in minor league baseball I have met so many new people that have helped.  I will have connections through that that I would have never met otherwise. Jim Dressler was a huge support to me my whole time playing ball — writing things in the paper. He would always keep my grandparents updated. He would call the house, helped them with the internet, and what not. I appreciate all he did for me and all he did for my family.

I don’t know where my career’s going to go. I play the outfield right now but if they want to move me they will move me. That’s what I have to worry about, getting better in the outfield.

In junior college and even at ISU we would do some speed training drills. On Sundays at Olney we would go back to school and Sundays would be our speed days. We would work on quick agility type movements. So that’s one day a week. At ISU on Tuesdays and Thursdays we would have speed training. In minor league baseball you do speed training every day to get loose. That’s five-six days out of the week you are doing speed training. There’s a strength coach working with your speed every day – he’s always there. If I want some extra work there are different kinds of speed training drills and he would take me out to the side and we would work on something different every day. As far as trying to get faster that’s the opportunity that I have.  –Just getting faster in the outfield.

I grew up on the south side of Chicago. It was pretty rough. My mom didn’t let me outside much. I pretty much just went to school. I was a straight A student first through sixth grade. Then basketball was introduced into my life around seventh . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Isiah Martin]]>

Indiana State University Basketball Player, Isiah Martin

I grew up on the south side of Chicago. It was pretty rough. My mom didn’t let me outside much. I pretty much just went to school. I was a straight A student first through sixth grade. Then basketball was introduced into my life around seventh grade. I went to a new school. It was high school that branched off with an eighth grade program. I didn’t start playing until seventh or eighth grade. That was new to me. Everybody had always told me I needed to play because I was so tall. I wasn’t that interested in it. I always watched Michael Jordan and what not. But, my dad and mom didn’t put a ball in my hands. They didn’t force it upon me like some people would have. I just came around and started playing and I started to love it right away. My mom has been there more so than my dad, but my dad is always around. He has done more lately that he did at the beginning. I actually learned how to play from my friends from around my neighborhood. We used to pull a goal out and play on the playground. We didn’t have much room but they taught me to shoot at the square. I didn’t have a jump shot at all, at first. Just shoot at the square and that is how it all started. That’s where it all started.

I have a few cousins that play. They live in Ohio, Delaware- Columbus area. My dad played in high school. My mom wasn’t into sports, she was a model. My grandparents didn’t play. I am pretty much the first one to go somewhere for it. Do something big sports wise.

Isiah Martin

I was pretty successful in high school our team didn’t do as well as I thought we could have done. I flourished because I was the big kid. The offenses ran through me. When you say my high school’s name, Morgan Park, then you thought of me. It was fun. I still talk about those guys to this day. Morgan Park was a great stepping-stone and a building block for me. I was still just learning when I was a freshman. I played on a “far-south” team, that’s junior varsity, that’s what we call it in Chicago. My sophomore year, I was starting with four seniors. That’s when I started to flourish. I was averaging nineteen points, nine rebounds and three or four blocks per game. That was pretty much one of my best years in high school. I felt like I didn’t have any pressure on me at all. There were four seniors and I was a sophomore. I was really relaxed; I was really able to play my game. My junior year was pretty tough, I sprained my ankle the day before our first game and I missed the first six games of the season. We had started out the season ranked twenty-seventh. We went one and five without me so that season never really got rolling. My senior year I flourished a little bit more. That is how I got here.

I was recruited by Central Florida, Niagara, Southern Illinois and …Indiana State, of course. Illinois State wanted me but they didn’t have a scholarship. So they wanted me to go “prep” a year. I couldn’t do that. My mom didn’t want me to do that. I didn’t want to do that either. There were a few other low and mid- major schools. Nothing really high major, I lost those (high majors) in my junior year when I got that injury and didn’t get to play as much.

Isiah Martin

The deciding factor for me to come to Indiana State was that it is close to home. My mom has come to about ninety-five percent of my home games and eighty percent of the other games. I have family in Delaware, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio. So that’s only three to four hours from there and that’s where most of my family is. They are all able to come to see my games, so that was one of the main factors in my coming here. Coach Lansing was the one who recruited me. He was a really nice guy and he seemed genuine. He was the first college coach that my mom loved and I loved also. It was Coach McKenna’s first year and I loved the idea of building something. A new coach, with new players and just starting something new…and putting my name on it, in a way,… and I have. It is special. I thought it would be with Coach McKenna but he chose to go elsewhere… and I don’t fault him for that at all. I am not mad at him for that. Coach Lansing had stepped up and been a great leader for us. He has been a great father figure for all of us. I mean he does stuff for us. He works us hard and pushes us past our limits. That’s why I think we are able to be as successful as we are this season –and we are going to keep it rolling, hopefully.

Pre-season was hard, it was really hard. It was different than Coach McKenna. He was more of a long easy night. He was more of a long easy practice– like two or three hours of practice. With Coach Lansing he is more of an hour and half practice. Get you in and out but you have to work hard. He’s going to push you. At the beginning of the season we were skeptical. Everybody was tired and didn’t know if we liked this. It was tough but it has paid off. When we went into the Chicago tournament and came out one and two we all thought we were better than that. We all realized our heads weren’t on right. We weren’t focused on the right stuff. We finally started to buy into Coach Lansing and what he was telling us. How hard he wanted us to work and it has finally paid off. We were five and six in the preseason, now we are twenty and thirteen. Fifteen wins after preseason that is pretty impressive, I think. Twelve in the valley and three in a row. I think we are on a roll right now and I think we can keep it going. After the Chicago tournament we had a meeting with the coaches and several team meetings. We still have team meetings to this day. After the Chicago tournament we had a meeting at Jake Kelly’s house and we all had to sit down and tell each other what we thought. Honesty, what we felt our roles were and what we felt like. What each other should and shouldn’t do to help us. After we got that on the table it (the season) turned around. We were in every game. We didn’t win every game but now everybody sees how important that was.

Isiah Martin

It feels good, establishing a background for the team. When I get in I just want as much as I can to help the team. I want us to be successful at the end of the day. I’m not the type to complain or be selfish. I have always tried to be a team player my whole life and I don’t think that should change now that I am in college. Whenever I get a chance, I try to make the best of it… do what I can do, I block shots, rebound, shoot if I’m put in a position I can score.  Those few games like Drake, when we were on the road, I knew when Myles (Walker) got in foul trouble he wasn’t having a good game. I just came in. I know how to play basketball. I’ve done it for the last eight or nine years of my life. It has been number one in my life these past nine years. One and two with school. I know how to play the game. I know what I need to do to help my team win. I know what I can do to make my team win. Bring energy, defense, score when I can—rebound. I mean just do the right thing.

We all hang out a lot outside of basketball. That’s what brings us together on the court. We have each other’s back on and off the court. If we’re not on the court… you can call one of the team and they are with six teammates and if you call someone else they are with the other seven teammates. We are always all together. That’s the way we have been able to mesh and become more of a family.

I am a criminology major. I am an internship away from graduating. I will be finished in May but then basketball takes up all my time so I will not get a chance to do my internship until the summer. I will probably do the ceremonial walk in May and get my diploma sometime this summer. I will hang around

Isiah Martin

here with the fellows probably all summer. Work-out and keep them motivated. Hang-out. Get the last little bit of college life I can. I was thinking about next year staying around and helping out with the team or something. I want to play basketball as long as I can –so I may just work my butt off this summer. Try to see where I can go overseas. I’ve had a few looks I am not sure from where but can’t do any talking right now. Hopefully, I can get a nice little spot over there and come back here and make it into the league one day. I feel like I have a lot of goals I haven’t reached yet but I will.

To relax I usually lay in bed watching movies. Dewayne (Lathan), Rasheed (Reed), from last year, and I live together. We don’t have cable. We didn’t think it was important to get because we are never home. We each have about two hundred movies. So after practice we go home pop a movie in and chill. Sometimes, I will play poker with a couple of friends. When I am not in the gym shooting that’s pretty much what I do, shoot, play poker and watch movies. I use to be a big horror buff but now I am an action/suspense guy. One of my favorite movies of course is “Love of Basketball”. Recently I saw the “Adjustment Bureau”. It’s pretty much amazing I love that movie. It’s a nice story line, its drama with a little suspense. I change it up a lot like I said I have over two hundred movies.

My favorite color is blue. Favorite music, I listen to a lot of different stuff, I like RAP a lot but I am an R&B guy. I like a healthy mix of both. Favorite foods I eat anything you put in front of me. You wouldn’t believe it but I can’t gain the weight. I am happy I have maintained two-fifteen (215#) this whole season. Every other season I have fluctuated between two-o-five (205#) and two-ten (210#). I have been able to maintain this year. I eat anything you put in front of me. Steak is probably one of my favorite foods… steak and mashed potatoes and gravy.

Isiah Martin

Going into the Missouri Valley Tournament I knew we had come close. We had come too far, twelve and six in the conference. We had beaten every team except Evansville and Wichita. We got to get them back in the first and second round. We knew we could beat anybody if we played defense. Our offense is going to come… we are too talented on offense not to score. Our defense is something that is bases on pride, we have to work on it to be good. We know we’ve worked our tail off on defense all year. Coach told us that if we defend then we can beat any team we play. So we took that to heart and we believed. We sat down and locked up some teams. That’s why we’re ready to do something that ISU hasn’t done but a few times. Every boy’s dream. My dream didn’t come until later seventh or eighth grade. People ask how long I have dreamed about this I say about ten years. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s just great to be able to leave your name on something. Me and JP (Jordan Printy) and Aaron (Carter) and Coach Lansing have been here from the beginning. All our work has paid off. We have made it to the tournament now. It’s not over we don’t need to get complacent or anything. We still have doubters out there, people who think we are a one and done team. We need to prove people wrong.

This team is ready. We are all back here. Happy to see each other and ready for practice. We don’t like being apart. In my four years here every time we get a break… we go home for a week and after three days we’re calling each other. It’s like there is nothing to do here and we miss each other. We come back early and everyone is ready and we are ready to work hard. We know the team we are probably going to get is playing right now. Big East and the Big Ten, whoever it is, we know they are playing right in their conference. We have to

Isiah Martin

be ready for them. They are playing games every day so our practices have to be as hard as the games, that is what Coach just told us. They are getting tested every day right now. So we have to test ourselves everyday against each other. So, when we get in that fight we are ready to win.

ISU has been a good fit for me, education as well as basketball. It has been a great experience. ISU and this little town, Terre Haute… I never would have thought it would give me what it has given me. I have grown as a person these four years. It’s just been amazing. I don’t want to believe that it is almost over but it is. I am ready. It has shaped me. I have become a man and I am ready for the real world. Not a job, just yet, but a life after college.

I would tell a recruit looking at ISU that on the outside I know it doesn’t look like much but this is probably one of the best places you could come for basketball. If that’s what you want to do is play basketball then this is the place you want to come. It’s Indiana, you should just check the tradition and the history. The coach is amazing and the teammates are like no other. Like Jake Odum, Ketchell, Steve (McWhorter), the young guys Lucas and Logan (Eitel). All of them are young and they are going to be great building blocks for this team. I would tell them I am jealous of them getting their next four years here with these guys because they are amazing. They are my brothers.  These people will have been in and out of my life, Gabe (Moore), Harry (Marshall), Josh (Crawford), Rasheed (Reed), Mic (Yelovich), Jay (Tunnel) everybody that has been in and out of this program. I still talk to them to this day. I don’t ever want to think that it will stop because this is a brotherhood. This is like a fraternity, but I feel like it is stronger than that…it’s amazing, I don’t want it to end.

Family…my dad’s name is Jeff,  my mom’s Kelley and I have 2 younger sisters. One sister, Jaime, is a sophomore, she plays basketball at Iowa. She’s had a great career so far. It’s fun watching her play and my younger sister, Jenna, is a 7th grader this year. She’s big into . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Jordan Printy]]>

Family…my dad’s name is Jeff,  my mom’s Kelley and I have 2 younger sisters. One sister, Jaime, is a sophomore, she plays basketball at Iowa. She’s had a great career so far. It’s fun watching her play and my younger sister, Jenna, is a 7^th grader this year. She’s big into dance. She’s got all these dance competitions that are fun to go to and watch her. I’m real close to my family, –talk to them all the time.

My mom ran track one year at Iowa and my dad played basketball in high school and played at a junior college close to home for 2 years. Sports have always been a big part of our lives. My sisters have had a pretty big career too. We’re all pretty close. We’re a pretty close family.

I’ve always pretty much been just basketball.  In high school that’s the only sport I played.  Middle school I did run track and stuff like that but mainly its always been basketball. I do like to golf in my free time.

I joined the Martin Brothers AAU team out of Iowa. I joined that after my freshman year in high school. We had some tournaments that summer and I started getting some letters and more recruiting after that. So I’d say college recruitment really picked up my sophomore year of high school.

At first I was getting letters from lot of all the Iowa schools, Iowa, Iowa State, UNI, Drake, then recruitment started branching out a little bit and then my college offers ended up being from here (Indiana State) and them Indiana State, Evansville, Drake, Wright State, and Wyoming were my five major offers. Then decided to come to ISU.

Coach Lansing actually recruited me and I knew a little about him from when he was at Iowa. He recruited me and I really liked what he had to say. I came down for a couple unofficial visits and liked all the guys, liked the program . That was actually when Waltman was still here but I just saw myself fitting in and I wanted to play in the Missouri Valley plus I thought it was a good fit for me.

I’m in social studies education… that’s my major. I wanna keep playing as long as i can then the plan is to coach either at the college level or teach and coach at the high school level. so that’s  what I want to do.

Life is busy you know.  I room with Aaron Carter. I lived in the dorms my first two (2) years and then Aaron and I got an apartment last year. Life’s fun, it’s a lot of fun, real busy but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Do I have friends outside of basketball? Yeah. I’ve met a lot of people on campus. I’ve got a couple good friends that are in my classes for my major so, yes, I’ve met a lot of good people since I’ve been here.

I just like some “chill time”. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and rap, R-n-B. My favorite probably would be Drake. I mean, we’re so busy with practice and classes… so mainly I just hang out with either the guys on the team or I spend time with my girlfriend. She goes here now too.  We went to the same high school and then she ended up transferring here. She actually dances for the Pacers so its cool… I get to go to a lot of Pacer games.

Basketball is a way of life and then you’ve got assignments, homework and projects that catch up with you. It is a lot of work, but but I’ve learned over the years how to balance ball and books. You know it’s fun though.

Was my injury frustrating? It was. It was frustrating cause you know it happened early I think it was in the 5^th or 6^th game, and it was a pretty bad high ankle sprain and I had a little hairline fracture there too. So it set me back quite a bit and then once I was  able to come back it still was frustrating because I still wasn’t a 100% you know. My movement and athleticism, all that kind of stuff was affected but I just had to keep getting treatment and work. You know just work thru it now its finally better. These last couple weeks its really starting to feel good again but it’s something that just kinda lingered on you know. I mean I came back, it was healed pretty good but it wasn’t 100% and then little tweets and little stuff like that kept setting me back. I don’t think I came back too soon but it’s one of those things where if you didn’t let it get all the way to 100% you know here or there it’s gonna bug you thru out. It’s good now. It’s doing real good. Brad (Yeargin), he did a great job with me all year. It’s just doing treatment and exercises and stuff like that, so it’s been good.

It felt pretty good the other night (at UNI). I had most of my family there. The family still lives in the Cedar Rapids area and it’s about an hour from UNI so I had quite a bit of them, probably 20-30 family members there. Also some friends, that I know, that went to UNI. So it’s always fun to go back home and play in front of them … especially when we’re playing well and we win. So it was good.

This is actually my 4^th year since I red-shirted my 1^st year so yes the time has definitely gone fast.

From last year to this, I think it was a smooth transition just because you know all the guys. We knew Coach Lansing obviously from being here and we all respect him and know how hard he works so we try to do the same for him. The difference… it’s a lot of the offense. It’s a lot of motion and just a lot of playing off your basketball instincts. I think it gives us a lot of freedom on offense and I think over the year we’ve definitely improved on it. Its’ been pretty smooth.

The change in offense I think it fits my game better. I think I’m more a motion player, the spread offense, I don’t have anything against it but I prefer the motion and the running up and down more.

The Missouri Valley tournament… we’re excited for it. I mean, we think we’ve been playing well and getting better just the thing we’ve gotta keep doing. Just improving everyday until the tournament and then go down there (St Louis) and try to make some noise.

Depth of the team makes a difference. It does. I mean the last game against UNI in the last minute of the game we had Lucas Eitle in there, Koang was in. Lucas hit a couple of big free throws for us. Coach always talks to us about how he feels like he can go down the whole bench and throw a guy in and we’ll be fine so it has definitely helped us out. Yeah, definitely, like you said we’re deep and coach isn’t afraid. He trusts everybody. He’s not afraid to throw one of the guys down at the end of the bench into the game… so its been good for us.   It’s been a big advantage for us all year. I think is our depth just helps practice too. The guys that don’t get a lot of game time they fight everyday and they work hard in practice too so its been good.

After school? I don’t know, I mean, I’ve thought about it a little bit but I just wanna focus on finishing this year out and next year just enjoy it.

If anyone asked me about coming to Indiana State I would definitely be positive and encourage it, because I’ve had a great experience so far. You know with the basketball team being like my family here… I mean I’m kinda far from home, it’s about 5 hours but I think I adjusted well and I think the group of guys we have here are really close. I like all the coaches and then on the education part of it …you know its been great as well, I think that Indiana State has a really good education teacher program here and my experience in that has been great so far too. A lot of good experiences. I’ll be doing my student teaching next fall so I’ll be out in some of the Terre Haute schools teaching a little bit and then just working towards my degree next fall. So,ISU’s been good I would encourage it.

My mother and father are still together. I have an older brother and older sister. My brother in high school played basketball the first two years. He was the number one guard in the state. He got caught up with his friends and girls, so he stopped playing basketball. I didn’t . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – CARL RICHARD]]>

Carl Richard

My mother and father are still together. I have an older brother and older sister. My brother in high school played basketball the first two years. He was the number one guard in the state. He got caught up with his friends and girls, so he stopped playing basketball. I didn’t seriously start playing until about my sophomore year in high school. My father wasn’t a constructive basketball player. He didn’t play on school teams but he did play on club teams. He wasn’t really skilled. All he did was rebound. That was his thing. He lead all the leagues he played on in rebounds. My mother didn’t get into sports. My sister was a cheerleader.

I started getting attention my very first varsity game in my junior year. We played against Eisenhower; I had eighteen and thirteen, something like that. I received my first college letter.  I thought basketball was just fun. I didn’t think I could do anything with it. I received my first college letter and  I was like, “Oh wow”. I thought,” I can actually play somewhere”. We won state my senior year. We were having a pretty good season. It seemed to me that my teammates couldn’t get me the ball where I needed it. I don’t know if they didn’t know how or if they just didn’t want to. There was one game that I had thirty points and maybe fifteen rebounds. That was my highest points I made in one game and we lost. I think it clicked right then that, “ maybe we should just get him the ball and good things will happen”. None of my points were coming from them passing me the ball. They were just from offensive rebounds, me getting the board, me pushing coast to coast. Then it clicked and we ended up winning State. They just got me the ball and they found out that I am not selfish.

Carl Richard

I received a lot of scholarship offers. I committed to ISU when I had six or seven offers. After we won State I received a lot of them. I was primarily recruited by Coach Lansing.

I enjoy playing basketball. I enjoy the team atmosphere that came along with basketball. When I dunked on someone the first time I really enjoyed it. Nothing tops it. When I came here people were pumping my head up saying you are going to do this and you are going to do that. I have seen myself getting better every year. When I got to college it was a completely different game. I realized that everybody jumps as high as I do. You have to find an edge. My freshman year I didn’t have an edge. All I could really do, the reason I play the way I do, is because I can rebound a basketball. That is what I rest my hat on. Based on percentages I didn’t shoot the ball very well. I couldn’t get lay ups, people were blocking me. It was rough, it was real rough. My confidence took a real hit. At the beginning of my sophomore year, my confidence had built back up over the summer, and then it happened again. I knew I was better than this and then it was the luck of the draw. We had a few players go down and he (Coach McKenna) called my number. He saw that I could deliver and from then my confidence skyrocketed.

Coach Lansing has demanded the most from me. When he first recruited me I was a four and he is trying to turn me into a three. It is taking some steps. “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, is what I always say. I couldn’t shoot the ball on the outside very well, so I had to learn to do that. I didn’t really have a post-up game. I just could jump. Then I had to get post moves. I want to be an inside-outside player. I had to work on my handles. I basically I’ve had to reshape my whole game. I was a raw player, just pure athleticism. Coach Lansing has tried to develop me some skills.

My cousin (Dwayne Wade) and I have two completely different games. He is more of a “slasher” and I’m a spot-up shooter and like to drive on occasions. He has told me what I need to work on to get to the next level. At the end of the day it is just basically me putting in hard work. I know what I need to do. My ball handling right now is the only thing separating me from being an overseas player or an NBA player.When I first got here I was like 180 pounds… now I am around 220 pounds. The weight I put on makes a complete difference. Before I came here I never lifted a weight in my life. In the off-season I enjoy the weight room. During the season I don’t even mind it because I know it helps. I tell the freshman coming in the best gift they ever gave me was that weight room. Without it I would be a skinny “four” getting pushed around, now I am doing the pushing.I am studying criminology. I haven’t really thought what I want to do with that yet. I have looked into it and there are a few things I can do with it. But right now I’m playing basketball. I feel like I want to develop my skills, I want to do this with my life. My father always told me that it is a whole lot easier to wake up and do something you enjoy. I enjoy playing basketball.My grades are pretty good. When I first started in my freshman year over the summer I made two A’s. Coming into the year it was a totally different class than the summer classes. It was kind of shaky at first but I found a balance between basketball and books.

I hang out with Odum a lot. We live together. It’s usually just him and I… we go play a game a lot. I occasionally go watch other people play basketball because I love the game. That’s just something I enjoy. I play the game and work out. I am friends with everybody on the team. I kick it with other people plus I am friends with people on other teams we play. A lot of my friends do what I do.

When I graduate from school I want to play basketball. Ideally, there’s about an eighty (80%) percent chance I will probably end up overseas. If I can get my ball handling right the sky is the limit.  I really believe that in my heart. I feel like you have to believe.

My freshman year was so rough. I feel like in my freshman year I got my shot blocked more than anyone else in the NCAA. I started to stay away from the base line.  I decided to go middle and just jump up in the air and say you aren’t going to block this. My jump shot is kind of flat but it goes in.

This year we’ve have had our ups and downs. Some games we play fantastic. Some games we play fantastic and lose, like Notre Dame. I feel like we played good at Notre Dame. There was a stretch in the game, when I went out in the game early in the first half, we were up when I went out. We dug ourselves a hole when I went out and we just couldn’t come back from it. I feel like we were right there. That’s a top team in the Big East. Then there are games like Wyoming. We have had stretches where we have been good. Like our six and one win streak. We have had stretches where we have been bad. Not necessarily bad — we just didn’t win games. I don’t think we played bad in all the games we lost. There were a few that we did (lost) just because of confidence issues. I feel like we can compete with anybody in our league on any given night. I feel like going into the tournament we are going to be the most dangerous team to

play against. In order for us to be the team we want to be we are going to need Lathan to perform. We have to find a way to mesh with him. He has to buy into the same concept as the rest of us. We need him (Lathan). He is a key component to this team.

I am indecisive with all the ups and downs. I feel like I knew what we are supposed to do when we were winning. I knew things that were helping us win. Besides our defensive intensity I feel like nothing has flipped. Like some days our offense isn’t going to flow as well as other days. The only thing you can really control is your defense. I think that’s the only thing that slips. We have won six or seven and lost four or five. We have fallen victim to letting our offense affect our defense. If I come out and miss four or five shots all I am going to be thinking about is missing those shots and other people do that too. We need not let that happen.

I think we are going to win out. I think we will go to the conference tournament with our head in the clouds. Not in the clouds… just feeling really good about ourselves, high confidence. I feel like we are going to make a deep run in the tournament.

Coach Lansing is the reason I chose ISU. He is kind of close to the family. So it is kind of like – I’m riding with him. Then he got the head job so it was kind of like “whoa hoo”. If anyone is thinking of coming to ISU to play basketball then I would tell them that Lansing is a great coach. It’s a great team atmosphere. I feel like this is the style of offense that a lot of people want to play. Nobody is put to any restrictions, like you can do what you are good at. Coach Lansing will let you.

Growing up, I was always played sports, I was into baseball and basketball especially. Playing basketball really hit around third grade I started playing on a local AAU team, for Bobby Moore. The Terre Haute Wildcats, that really got me kick started, that was big. I still love Bobby Moore to . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Jake Odum]]>

Growing up, I was always played sports, I was into baseball and basketball especially. Playing basketball really hit around third grade I started playing on a local AAU team, for Bobby Moore. The Terre Haute Wildcats, that really got me kick started, that was big. I still love Bobby Moore to this day and the players on that team. RJ (Mahurin) was actually on that first AAU team back in third grade.  We have two other kids that were on that team playing baseball here at ISU now. I think eight out of ten of us are playing Division-1 sports now. From that team right there… from third to eighth we made a solid case of unity. We really learned how to play team basketball. That is where it originated, how I approach the game of basketball.  Hard work and you get what you put in. I feel like if you put hard work and time into something you can be whatever you want to be and however good you want to be. I started off at that (AAU) and then went on to Woodrow Wilson and played three years there. I kind of got a chip on my shoulder when I went there because they we all about Terre Haute North. I was all about Terre Haute South so I decided I needed to work hard. I lived on the tennis courts over there playing basketball since my house was a couple of blocks away.  I was there every day before and after practice, before school shooting on the courts. I moved on to high school…. Coach Saylor is a great coach. He put me in a system where I was able to develop my game. He had me in different areas, distributing and scoring. He taught me many things that I still use today in the game out here in the college level. I didn’t realize what he was doing back then but now that I have been through four years of high school and two years here (ISU) I realize what kind of path he put me on in high school.

I realize that there are definitely some distractions playing in my hometown. I had to pull myself from that. You are going to lose some friends. You are going to have a bunch of people want to be your friend that should not be your friend. You just have to stay in reality when you are in your hometown. Now that we are doing well everybody’s talking about us. We really haven’t done anything yet. We are at twelve and eighteen. We have plenty more to do. The main thing about distractions is stay down to reality and not catch on to all the hype that our fans are bringing on to our program right now.

I realized when I was at Terre Haute South that you have to distance yourself from people that might be a little jealous and might want to bring you down. Because you are doing something that they might not be doing. That is just something you realize and you recognize growing up. I have parents that are good and they taught me well when I was growing up. I have had that since I was a young age.

During the whole year last year I wanted to play. That’s just how I am in basketball. I just thought I could go out there and compete with anybody.  Now that I am playing this year as a freshman, it’s (red-shirting) the best thing I ever did.  I am glad the coaches talked me into doing that. It has really helped developed my game, comparing me now to last year. I wasn’t ready to play physically or mentally. It is a very challenging game here at the college level compared to high school. The red-shirt year is huge and I think it is going to benefit Jake Kitchell this year. For him to come out and be a freshman next year it is going to be big.

Physically I have probably grown an inch to an inch and a half since I have gotten in school. I have gained about ten to twelve pounds. You can’t really tell it. I have definitely gotten a lot stronger,…unbelievably stronger actually. Mentally it is a hard game especially compared to high school. It is more draining and challenging. You have to be able to play possession for possession. In college basketball you can’t have any mental lapses and have possessions where you can’t get a good shot. Or a quality possession where the ball moves around the floor. So for the red-shirt year helped me mentally. It helped me realize that by watching players like Harry Marshall and Reed. It definitely helped me mentally for this year.  Being ready to compete for thirty minutes every night.

Being red-shirted for a year you have to pick up the offense.  With Coach McKenna’s offense it really takes you about a year to learn.  I was learning that all last year. I was running the second groups offense when we would play against the first group. I still had to learn the plays and stay with it all through last year. That goes both ways. This year, I am out there and have to know where everybody is on the floor. I probably know the plays a little more detailed this year but, as far as knowing the plays my red-shirt year compared to this year… I know the plays pretty well inside and out.

When I was younger and playing with Bobby Moore, he was a great coach, he made me see the floor and that’s one of the key things in basketball. To see the floor and see what everyone is doing– you can see what is going to happen.  That has helped me out in the college game. When I can see the floor as well as I do then I can see the plays as they are developing then I know what plays are going to be run. I can see it in my head more and that is what helps me in my steals. I don’t get a lot of “on ball” steals. All my steals are “off ball” steals. I am reading a play and I kind of know what is going to happen and where each guy is going to be and I try to beat them to the spot. That is how the game slows down in my head out there on the floor.

I am still learning, I try to learn something new every day. Growing up my dad would ask me what did I learn in school today. I would always say nothing. He would always make me try and do the best. Try to learn something every day. Even the smartest people in the world can learn something. Not just on the basketball floor but in life in general that can turn into something on the basketball floor.  Even though I think I am pretty intelligent on the basketball floor there is always something to learn. There is always something I can do better to help my team win or to do better on the floor.

I am working my hardest to improve my overall game. I have some weaknesses. I need to stay in the weight room, even in the off-season, more than I have been. I need to work on my shot. My “on ball” defense has been slacking I need to step that up. Everything can get better but those are the ones I need to focus on.

My mentor has been transferred to Coach Lansing. All my mentors growing up have been my coach. I bought into their offenses and their programs and what they were trying to do. I think that is the only way to have a good team is to listen to the coach and to be kind of a coach on the floor. That is what I have been trying to do with Coach Lansing. He is the head coach but he wants me to be the coach on the floor. I try to translate what he is trying to say in the huddles to how the team plays out there on the floor.

Coach Lansing was the first college coach to really start recruiting me. He was real laid back cool guy. I was really glad he got the job here. I couldn’t ask for a better coach. We definitely jelled. I think that is because he trusts me. That’s a big thing. That really helps me with my confidence on the floor as a freshman. When the head coach puts the ball in my hand and expects me to make a play and he knows I can do it. That really gives me confidence. That makes me want to learn from him and pay attention even more. It has surprised me that I am playing as much as I am… but I am a kind of guy who has always played with a chip on my shoulder. I feel like I was under recruited going through high school…so, I kind of play with a chip on my shoulder. I just try to play harder every time I get on the floor.

The team has grown tremendously this year. We have taken a couple of bad losses. Up in Chicago to start the season, lost again at Ball State… which was a disappointment after they beat us here. Embarrassed us here in Hulman Center last year. We’ve picked it up. We are seven and two in conference. Like I said before we haven’t done anything yet but we are on the right track. I don’t look too far ahead in the future because we have this season to pay attention to. But, the future is looking good for ISU basketball.

I think the local favor here is huge. It has brought more fans out to the crowds. I have played with and against RJ and the Eidels my whole life. Me, RJ, Rene, Eugene on the Terre Haute Wildcats playing against the Terre Haute Jammers who the Eidels played for back in third, fourth and fifth grade. It will show more when we are older and we are all playing together. The Eidels are not getting much playing time.  I think they should be in even a little more. It will show later on in our careers along with (Rhett) Smith and Justin Gant. Those guys know how to play the game and they play the game the right way. That’s kind of the mentality we are trying to bring out to the floor this year is “play the game the right way and share the ball”. If you do that it is hard to stop even if you don’t necessarily have a star player. We have five players playing as one. You can’t have one player better than five.

I would tell anyone looking at ISU to come here. It’s a great place to be. Terre Haute is a good city. We are getting more support. It’s a great place to be and the program is moving up and the future looks good for us. As far as any recruits coming in we would be glad to have you and get ready to keep winning games.

My Dad played basketball in high school. He actually has the rebounding record for most in a game in high school. He had twenty-six (26) or something like that. He claims that is what he got in the season but, he’s just being modest. My brother played… he was really good . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Aaron Carter]]>

My Dad played basketball in high school. He actually has the rebounding record for most in a game in high school. He had twenty-six (26) or something like that. He claims that is what he got in the season but, he’s just being modest. My brother played… he was really good in high school. He has a lot of records in high school. He played at the University of Southern Indiana for four years. He was recruited by I U and schools like that. So he was pretty good.  My sister played volleyball in college down in Tennessee.  One of my uncles played college basketball at Oakland City. It’s in the blood a little bit, I guess.

My family is great. They are very supportive. My Mom and brother come to every home game. My Dad comes when he can. Just yesterday, Sunday, some of my high school teachers and athletic director came to the game. That was pretty neat. My whole family came up. They are really supportive. I love them.

I am a marketing major with a minor in sports management. I should graduate in May. I have to take fifteen (15) hours to get my diploma. I’m looking forward to that. It is kind of bitter sweet. I will be out of college and into the real world but it’s time to grow up.

It is surprising how fast college life goes. It flies, it seems like yesterday we were just freshmen.  Little naïve freshmen not knowing what college life is all about. Not knowing what it takes to make it in college athletics. It has gone by fast but I have learned a lot and I have grown a lot, both as a freshman and a basketball player.  It has been really fun.

Indiana State was the first college I received mail from. I was so happy. I was a sophomore in high school and I received a big packet from ISU. That was my first one; they were recruiting me the longest. They were recruiting me really hard. I liked all the coaches and the guys I would be coming in and playing with. I signed under Waltman. Coach Lansing and Coach Gerrard recruited me and they stayed when McKenna got hired. That was a big deal for me, having coaches I was familiar with… that I could play for. That is basically why I came here. It was a tough decision but I think I made the right one.

I do have a life outside of basketball. I have friends and stuff. Basketball consumes most of your life during the season. It is not my life. I still like to do other things and focus on school quite a bit. Just hanging out and try to enjoy myself. My teammates and I go see movies and play poker,… do things like that. Just play video games. It is mostly with my teammates. I have friends who go to other schools. We see each other whenever we can. When we are on campus, our teammates are together all the time. It is great because I love all the guys.

Right now I haven’t thought too much about the future. I am trying to focus on basketball. I want to do business somehow but I don’t know what kind of entry level position I can get. I would say it would be somewhere around Indianapolis. That is a bigger city and I would have more opportunities. I know several people in Indianapolis so hopefully that will work out.

Last year I wasn’t getting to play a lot early on during the season. It was frustrating and I tried not to let affect me. I tried to go into practice every day hard and make the most of it. I knew I would get an opportunity sometime and when I did I’d take advantage of it. I think I did last year. This year started off pretty much the same way. We were losing some games and we were all pretty frustrated. I wasn’t getting to play as much as I would have liked.  I wasn’t letting it get to me too much because I knew I would get my opportunity eventually and I did. We have just been playing really well and it has been really fun.

The team you see now is a lot different than when we started the season back in November. I think it is for the better.  We have learned to play together more.  We play as a team; we play loose and with confidence.  I think that’s key.  I think it’s a result of a lot of things, the coaches they are coming in here and bringing in energy. They are intense in practice and they get us going. All the guys are drawn together and playing together really well. We enjoy playing and we want to play as well as we can for each other and the coaches…not just for ourselves.  I think when we finally figured that out and when we became a little more selfless it started helping us out a lot. It is a little bit of the style. The style of offense and defense we are running.  Definitely because we are winning, everything is more enjoyable. Even the food tastes better when you are winning. We have been on a roll. We have been enjoying it and having fun. We are still working hard. We have intense practices. Today (Monday) was kind of laid back because it was right after a game; we were just doing some shooting and stuff. Tomorrow we will come in here and get after each other. It will be pretty intense but it will be good.

What surprises me about this team is how well we did when players went down. Like last year, we did pretty well, we held our own. But this year we are tied for second in the conference. Nobody would have expected that with losing our two (2) top scorers. I think that just goes to show how deep we are and how tough our guys are. Everybody was getting experience when those guys were out – people were just playing more. They were getting experience and getting confidence. Now they are back that’s key because those guys that are coming off the bench have that experience and that confidence under their belts so they can come in and help us.

It is always cool to be on sports center. I was getting texts saying I just saw you guys on sports center and all that. That’s really cool. There are not a lot of people from small colleges that can say that. To get notoriety that’s really nice. We can’t let it affect us. We just have to keep doing the same thing and keep working hard. Keep getting better and better.

My intensity and aggressiveness:  that’s something I have developed in college. In high school I was just a scorer. I am from a small high school (Perry Central, Cannelton, IN) and I didn’t have to play like that. I was more just the scorer and did things like that. I would block shots but I wouldn’t be like diving on the floor and taking charges that much in high school. In college I acquired that out of necessity. When I was a freshman I wanted to get more minutes in play so I had to do the little things. In my freshman year it was around conference time that something kind of clicked.  I said, I don’t care, I am just going out there and play as hard as I can and do whatever I can. If I get tired, I get tired.  I have been playing like that ever since. Just trying to do anything I can, little things, trying to hustle all the time to make plays and help the team. I feel like if I am playing as hard as I can there is really nothing else I can do. That’s the mindset I have, just go in there and play as hard as I can and try to make things happen. I try not to be intimidated by size or speed or anything like that, just go in there and go after it.

This team has grown a lot. Like I said, we are a really different team than when we started in November. Everybody has matured a little bit and they have figured out what it is. We didn’t really know we were good. We knew we had talent from the beginning but we had to harness all that talent and get it together and play the right way. It has been a process.

Steve (McWhorter) has come a long way. Since he came up here this summer until now he has worked on his shot and he has worked on his defensive ball handling. He gets after it in practice. He has done really well. He has surprised me but it has been good. Myles (Walker), we knew he was going to be physical inside, he was going to be a “banger”.  He has done really well for us. He will “D” up and rebound. That is what he wants to do. He could care less if he scores twenty (20) a game. He just wants to help the team. That’s another thing… learning and maturing as a team. Learning what it takes to help us win. He has come a long way too. It has been good watching those guys develop.  Sunday’s game (Creighton) was a tough challenge for him. I think he held it well. That guy was really big and skilled. The guards were helping out a little bit too. We did well defending him as a team and Myles.

I expect for the rest of the season more of the same of what we have been doing. Everybody playing harder and is playing together. Playing tough and knowing what it takes to tough it out on the road. That Evansville loss was the hardest of all because we knew we were a better team. We had them down early. We just let it slip away. We just weren’t tough enough to close it out in the end. I think that’s what we needed to develope. We won two (2) road games since then — but we are going to have some tough ones on the road coming up. Being able to get out like that and finish it strong. I don’t know how to explain the Wyoming game. That was just awful from the beginning. We did alright the first few minutes after that it started getting out of control. That was during the stretch where we were on the road a lot. We had a couple of home games. That definitely wears on you but, we can’t use that as an excuse.  I would hate to use the altitude as an excuse because I mean we shouldn’t have let that affect us but it might have. It was a bad game but I kind of look at it as a turning point of the season. After that game we started playing better. We got beat by Purdue but I thought we played pretty well for the most part against them.  Other than that Evansville was the only slip up since the Wyoming game.  It kind of opened our eyes a little bit and showed us that if we don’t play hard and don’t play together we’re not that good. We’re talented but we’re not that good. We needed to have it all together to win.

I made a good decision coming to ISU. I had twelve or fourteen Division-1 offers. I only considered about five (5) of them seriously. In the end it really came down to Evansville or Indiana State. The “Valley” is a good conference; I wanted to play in it. Evansville was close to home, only about an hour from my house.  I got to know the coaches and the players really well. I would come and play open gym with them. In the end it came down to those two schools and I kind of weighed what would be a better fit for me. Not just the basketball aspect but how much I can get out of the college experience. Indiana State is a bigger school and you get more of the college experience. Evansville is a good school too. I know I made the right decision but it was tough.  I am glad I did because after I committed to ISU Waltman resigned but so did Evansville’s coach but Evansville’s whole staff was replaced. I wouldn’t have known any of them so coming up here I was more familiar with the staff. In high school I didn’t like to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted familiarity; I was familiar with the coaches. That was one of the big things coming here.

ISU is a good place. Some people talk bad about it but it is what you make it. You can have a great time at ISU and get a good education. The campus is making improvements all around town and on the campus. We have the new Rec Center… and they are doing things to improve the campus. Like the basketball team we are heading in the right direction in all athletes. Football, they did better this year too.  Baseball they

have been good for a while. I think we are going in the right direction in athletics and as a campus.

My accident, I have a stress reaction. It is basically, like,… a prerequisite of a stress fracture.  It is where the tissues around the bone in my middle foot are inflamed and weakened. I have to really take it easy. I have to wear a boot when I am not on . . . → Read More: In His Own Words – Jake Kelly]]>

Jake Kelly

My accident, I have a stress reaction. It is basically, like,… a prerequisite of a stress fracture.  It is where the tissues around the bone in my middle foot are inflamed and weakened. I have to really take it easy. I have to wear a boot when I am not on the court. I can’t practice for at least two weeks but basically the diagnosis is day to day.  It is just about what pain I can bear or if I am having any pain at all, I can’t play. If I get a stress fracture then I will have to have a surgery.

I grew up here. I moved away when I was twelve years old. I stayed in touch with my close family who lived around here. I came here on the weekends with my dad all through high school. So it’s definitely my home.  During Christmas and holidays I am home.  I am visiting family. That’s definitely nice.  I can see them whenever I want instead of two or three days that I was allowed at Iowa for Christmas break.

My family understands my schedule and everything. When they call me at night and I don’t answer they know I am probably just resting and tired and don’t feel like talking. At times when we have family get-togethers, if I have a late practice they understand if I don’t make it. I don’t hear any bad things from that side. As far as that being a distraction on being on the court… it can be. I came back because I wanted to be around my brother and I wanted the support of my dad. Also to help my brother out.  I am doing that. He is living with me. None of that is a distraction. It only makes you stronger I guess. It’s just part of life.

At Iowa, it was just basketball and school and nothing else. I was up there for basketball and basketball only. Here… I do have family. I do have relationships that I like to keep intact. I visit family members and help people out. Whether it be financially or just being there for people. I get to be a more of a well-rounded person. Like at Iowa it was basketball, school, basketball and school and that was it. I wouldn’t say it hinders my performance but there are definitely a lot of other things here.

I have had three head coaches in four years. I have torn my ACL. I have moved towns. I lost my mom. I have had a lot of other things that have been problems. I am just trying to stick to it…. and I have a good coach in Lansing. I try to ignore all the expectations as far as comparing me to Larry Bird or anything like that. I grew up idolizing Larry Bird and wanted to play just like him. Our games are completely different and the times have changed and the teams are different. I would say it would be hard for Larry to move schools and play with all new people and do the things he did. It is a building process. It is what it is and that’s what has been put in front of me and that’s what I have had to handle.

I have been in three (3) completely opposite offensive systems. Defensively change is easy to adapt to but offensively my positions changed, personnel has changed, style of play and the pace has changed. So, offensively it is a lot of adjustments. Every year since I have been in college I have felt like I was a first year player, I will admit that.

Coming down the road, I still have high expectations. I will keep faith in my leg and pray every day that my foot heals up.  In a couple of weeks I hope to come back and I hope to make a run. I think we can do it.  We showed it the other night against Bradley. We are definitely one of the top teams in the conference. We play as hard as or harder than anybody. We are going to continue to learn. We are going to keep pushing. Just because we are five hundred doesn’t mean we can’t win “the Valley”.  Repetition is what it is, we are getting in the gym.  We are getting better every day. We have to play more as a team offensively. I think, our defense is always going to be there… that’s effort and that’s coaches getting on us at practice and making sure we are perfect. Offensively… it is about chemistry and we have to build that throughout the season.

I love that Lansing was made head coach. I know the guys respect him and love him. We are having a fun year. We are having fun playing basketball. This is the hardest working practices I have had since I have been in college. I feel like we are in great shape and we are determined and we are confident and every day as we get better with each other.  I think it will produce on the court and nobody in this conference is going to be able to stop us.