YEAR 1 RECAP
Welcome to ESPN "The Ocho" Year 1 Recap, joining me today is Coach Ryne Dezaron "The Deuce" who just completed his first year on the job with the Northern Colorado Bears, I am your host Pepper Brooks sit back and enjoy the show.
PB- Coach let's get things started, you finished 16-14 in Year 1 not bad for a first time head coaching job.
#2-Yeah Pepper I thought things went well. We started off strong winning the Hanger Classic with a opening round win over VMI (95-88) before beating Air Force (64-55) in the championship game, so it was nice to get that get some W's under our belt and a non conference tournament trophy (1 attribute point).
PB-You guy's finished 5-5 in non-conference play led by SR E. Gray (20.2 PPG) but you got some great outside shooting from both 6’3 SR SG Josip Gibson 7.7 ppg 35% for 3pt (16/46) and 6’0 FR SG Nate Boatner 7.5 ppg,36% 3pt (13/36).
#2-Yeah it was really great to see Boatner step up and provide us with a quality 6th man. Coming into the season I wasn't sure what type of player he was (Rated 57) but he has a nice 3pt stroke.
PB-Coach you finished 9-7 which was good for 3rd place in the Big Sky and made it to the Championship game against a 20 win Montana squad but came up short. With Gray (20.6 PPG 6.9 RPG) and Gibson (11.2 PPG 45% 3pt) graduating you had some big shoes to fill in recruiting. Can you give us a update on how that went.
#2-Well at first I was a little disappointed. We went hard after 6'11 Fab Ainge (3* Rated #446/43) from Thornton CO but he ended up signing with Colorado State. That left us 3 scholarships to use late in the season as we search for guy's who were not being heavily recruited.
PB-Yeah losing out on Ainge was a disappointment but in the end it was actually a blessing because you landed some pretty talented guy's including 1 player Cam Atkinson whom I excited to see play. Can you tell us more about him.
#2-Well Cam is every player a 1st year HC dreams about. He is a 6'7 PF out of Carson City Nevada and was rated a 4* Recruit and Ranked #92 Overall in this years class and the #20 PF in the nation. (Signing a 4* Recruit=another attribute point)
PB-Yeah I think Cam has the potential to be the best player in the Big Sky next year but you got 2 more pretty good player's including a World recruit (another attribute point). Tell us about them.
#2-Well our World guy comes from New Zealand. He is 6'10 Aron Thompson (3*) and will be a instant starter next year in the post with Atkinson. Our last recruit is 6'7 Kris Crenshaw (3* #394/#89 SF) out of Albuquerque New Mexico. Well Crenshaw doesn't shoot the ball well from the outside he does have a nice mid-range jumper and should slide into the starting lineup at SF.
PB-So with Atkinson/Thompson/Crenshaw locked in as starters who will be in the backcourt next year?
#2-Well Boatner will move from his 6th man role he finished #3 in scoring (9.4 PPG and shot well from 3pt-34%). 5'9 Ontario Dunnington (60) played well as a true freshman (5.1 PPG/2.1 APG) and will get a chance to run the point next season.
PB-Well coach it seemed like you really made some big strides in Year 1 (5 Attribute points). What are your goals for Year 2?
#2-Well Pepper, I want 20 wins and to accomplish that I believe we will need to win the Big Sky conference tourney. I also will have 4 scholarships to fill and I really want to fill out the roster with some solid guards who can shoot the 3pt so we can really run my offensive style to our potential. It would be also great if we could manage to pick up a win or 2 over some Top-25 teams to help build some confidence. I also would love to see Cam Atkinson win Big Sky FOY and of course I would love to be Big Sky COY.
PB-Well Coach those are some lofty goals.. Good luck to you..