More iron on-hand for ISU basketball to sharpen with
Jun. 9—During his first season in charge, Indiana State men's basketball coach Josh Schertz liked to talk a lot about "iron sharpening iron". Meaning that creating toughness and competition in practice would translate to the same attributes in games.
Upon entering the ISU Arena on Wednesday for ISU's third team workout in the first week the team could re-convene to take part in team activities, it was evident that there's quite a bit more iron around to sharpen with.
After enduring a 2021-22 season in which the team was often depleted to the bone due to injuries and COVID-19 bouts, it was jarring to see 15 players in practice jerseys all taking part in the effort to help ISU improve from its 11-20 record it attained in Schertz's first campaign.
"We've got a lot of older guys. For a lot of us, it's our last year. Because it's our last year, we want to come at each other and that's really good if you want to make a long run. If you start the summer off going at each other? It will make it a better season," ISU swingman Cam Henry said.
The mix of players is fascinating in the day and age of restriction-free transfers. Seven Sycamores — Xavier Bledson, Julian Larry, Kailex Stephens, Cooper Neese, Cam Crawford, Zach Hobbs and Henry — returned to the fold.
There are two true freshmen — stretch big Robbie Avila and dynamic point guard Rob Martin. There are five transfers — swingman Jayson Kent from Bradley, guard Courvoisier McCauley from DePaul (by way of Schertz's former school, Lincoln Memorial), guard Trenton Gibson from Tusculum (also by way of LMU) and former Truman State stars Cade McKnight and Masen Miller. Finally, there is Schertz's son, Jaden, who is playing as a walk-on.
"It's good to have a full complement of guys. We were recruiting into late June last year just to fill our team. With this group, you have 14 guys who can all play at this level. Depth is overrated [in games] unless it's helping you through injuries or foul trouble, but it does help you in terms of accountability," Schertz said.
Schertz called it "The Hammer".
"You can hold guys accountable. If guys aren't doing what they need to do, you bring in someone who will. It's the Hammer. You also gain in practice. If guys feel uneasy, because if they don't bring someone will kick their butt? If my spot isn't secured. I think feeling uneasy is a great thing if you have to come in [to practice] and feel like you have to earn it," Schertz said.
The culture of practice was one of the main things Schertz wanted to address in the offseason.
"There was some blow back when I said I had to fix the culture. The culture wasn't bad guys, I just didn't think we were committed enough. I didn't think guys were in here early or late, I didn't think guys worked on a day-to-day basis to become a really good team and we didn't have enough competition," Schertz said.
Schertz noted that the depth on the 2021-22 team was "as thin as any I've had" to describing the 2022-23 roster as "having as much depth as I've ever had".
Crawford, who played in 21 games while averaging 3.1 points in 2021-22 and who is hoping to breakout into a larger role in 2022-23, welcomes the competition in practice.
"I definitely welcome it and most everyone here does because we're all competitors. You do have to come ready and locked in. The days add up, you get sore, but you have to lock in and bring it. If you don't? The guy across from you will," Crawford said.
Henry noted that since much of the summer of 2021 was devoted to acclimation to a new coaching staff for the inherited players and to a new school for the transfers, this summer should be more competitive.
"We didn't really focus on competition as much during the summer. I think that let us down once we got into the conference," Henry said.
As always, acclimating newcomers is part of the routine during June workouts. In the past, that usually meant the true freshmen on-hand and a couple of transfers. Now the transition process is as much about getting experienced players ingrained as it is the young ones.
"I'm still figuring out some of these guys. Even though it's day three? We're playing five-on-five mainly so I can go back and watch them here and in film and see what guys do naturally and instinctively. We're not coaching them a ton right now. One of the keys is to do what you do best all the time. We're in the period of growth where we're figuring each other out," Schertz said.
The newcomers are the shiny new toys of sorts, but Schertz appreciates the veterans who returned. In Schertz's mind, it's a sign of stability and that the returning players have buy-in not only in terms of how Schertz is trying to make ISU a winner, but also, in the manner he's going about it.
"The goal is to be a real team, not just 15 guys wearing Indiana State jerseys," Schertz said. "The guys coming back knew who we signed. The guys we signed knew we returned six of our top seven scorers. No one decided they were out and that shows shared values as it relates to work, competition, and ultimately, winning."
