Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[PointGuard]

Game #3; Nov. 23, 2011; CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (0-2) at Sacramento St. Hornets (1-1)

Reserve SG Kevin Hill was cleared to play in this game, but he's still not at full strength, so his playing time will be limited.

We came out ice cold while the Hornets were hitting their shots and took a quick 11 point lead. Midway through the half we began knocking down some shots to pull within 4 points, but then let Sacramento State pull back to a 29-22 lead at the break. Greg Bivins led our scoring with 8 points. Again we were victimized by the refs. The Hornets got to the line 10 times while we were awarded no free throw shots at all.

We dropped behind by 15 points in the 2nd half, but then made a late game comeback. We got to within 4 points and had our chances in the final 3 minutes, but just couldn’t take advantage of them. Greg Bivins hit a long 3 with 7 seconds on the clock to bring us within 2 points. But since we only had 4 team fouls, our only hope was to steal the ball or force a turnover. That didn’t happen as time expired with us again tantalizingly close.

Final Score: Sacramento State-51, CSU Bakersfield-49. CSU Bakersfield season record: 0-3.

Scoring leaders: Bivins-19.

Rebound leaders: Johnson-7, Settles-6, Chase-6, Jones-5.

Assist leaders: Holmes-3.

Player of the Game: Sacramento State’s SF Brett Fife-12 pts, 9 reb, 5 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Greg Bivins-19 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist, 2 steals.

Other notes: Sacramento State’s slow-down offense seemed to throw us out of synch for much of the game. We held a 38-36 rebounding advantage and surprisingly shot better than the Hornets (37% for us compared to 35% for them), but we had 17 turnovers as we tried to speed the game up while causing only 12 by the careful Hornets. The Hornets hit 5 of 10 free throws while we scored twice at the charity line on just 3 attempts. 5-2 equals 3 which is 1 more than the difference in the final score. We continue to get no production from our SF’s. Jeremy Jones and Justin Williams are averaging 5.4 ppg and 1.7 rpg collectively.

We’re still getting no love from the Bakersfield Bee. Two losses on the road by a total of 4 points is nothing but a testament to our failure to them. Obviously close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades...and girlfriends. The newspaper's reporters are fixated on that big “0” in the win column. I’m not enamored with it either.

[PointGuard]

Game #4; Nov. 26, 2011; Loyola Marymount Lions (0-4) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (0-3)

A battle of the winless. Coach Finnegan was nice enough to schedule a home game with us, but I’m sure he’ll be going all out to post a win. The Lions best player, PF Ronald Anderson, suffered a broken nose in the first game and hasn’t played since. No one other than SG Aaron Waldman has been scoring well thus far.

I’m going to move Johnny Chase from PF to SF to start this game and start Bobby Rivera at PF in hopes of getting some production out of the 3 position for us.

Again Rabobank Arena was nearly empty…less than 500 onlookers rattling around the 10,800 seat facility. It’s bad when the squeaking of players’ shoes is louder than the fans.

Both teams came out shooting poorly. After 6 minutes of play we’re ahead 8-2 even though we’ve only hit 27% of our shots. I shift to a small 3-guard lineup. It works as we begin hitting our shots and move out to a 22-10 lead with 8 minutes to go in the half. Our shooting cools again and we begin turning the ball over at that point and limp into the locker room with a 33-28 advantage. Rebounding has been the difference…we pulled down 21 rebounds to the Lions 13. Carlos Holmes came off the bench to score 10 points for us.

We played well throughout most of the 2nd half and were ahead by 11 points with 3 minutes to play. Collectively, the team then fell apart and the Lions pulled within 2 with just over a minute to play. After calling a time out, our pick and roll play didn’t work, Greg Bivins drove to the hoop and forced up a shot that was off the rim, but he pulled down the rebound and shoved in a follow-up shot to give us a 61-57 lead with 59 seconds remaining. Bivins then fouled their PG immediately. Just a really dumb fould. I was incensed. Both shots swished through the net to cut our lead to 61-59. Andrew Powers sunk a 10 foot jumper with 40 seconds left to increase our lead to 4. David Johnson then fouled with 11 seconds to go, but the Lions only made 1 of the 2 free throws. Bivins was fouled with 8 ticks on the clock…he made 1 of 2 to resurrect our 4 point lead. The Lions sunk a last second 3, but we walked off the court with our first win of the season.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-64, Loyola Marymount-63. CSU Bakersfield season record: 1-3.

Scoring leaders: Holmes-16, Hill-15, Bivins-10, Powers-8.

Rebound leaders: Johnson-8, Hill-5.

Assist leaders: Four players with 2 each.

Player of the Game: PG Carlos Holmes-16 pts, 3 reb, 2 assists (he played PG, SG, and SF tonight)

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: SG Kevin Hills-15 pts, 5 reb (he primarily played SF tonight)

Other notes: Coach Finnegan congratulated me on my first win as head coach, but said I wasn’t a very good host by keeping his team winless. Our 36-29 rebounding advantage was the difference in this game since we were outshot 40% to 36%. My experiment of moving Johnny Chase to SF was a failure as he went scoreless. But Kevin Hill and Carlos Holmes play off the bench was the key to our success tonight as they combined for 31 points.

[PointGuard]

4 games into the season and 3 games decided by 2 points or less. My stomach is being tied up in knots. At this rate I will be gray-haired before my 29th birthday.

[Wayne23]

First win's the toughest. You're on your way.

[PointGuard]

Chaz Abbott, a reporter from KHTY (AM 970), the sports radio station in Bakersfield, interviews me after the game. I was surprised that the radio station had sent a reporter, but then find out that the station didn't SEND him, he just decided to attend the game and stayed to the end because it was an exciting game.

Chaz: Coach, what's it like to get your first win as a head coach?
QM: Actually, I'm more excited about our TEAM getting its first win. It's definitely more about the team than me. I was proud of how the team hung in when challenged at the end of the game.
Chaz: Yeah, but this must be a special feeling for you, right?
QM: Well, Chaz, I'm sure this game will remain in my memory. I'll probably send a copy of the news report to my parents since they will want to show if off to the neighbors back in Philly.
Chaz: Speaking of Philadelphia, when you were living there did you ever imagine you'd be coaching a team in Bakersfield, California?
QM: (Laughing) You know, I must admit I never even knew there WAS a Bakersfield in California. But I'm sure happy that university took a chance at hiring a young coach with no head coaching experience. I've gotta work hard to justify their faith in me.
Chaz: Getting back to tonight's game, what do you think was the difference that allowed the Roadrunners to post their first win of the season?
QM: I was really impressed how Kevin Hill and Carlos Holmes came off the bench and carried our team. It was really the first time we had tried Kevin at the 3 position and he really came through for us. And Carlos did a great job at spelling Greg Bivins at the point and also played well in more limited duty at both the 2 and 3 positions. As a team though, our guys did a good job getting in position and blocking out to control the boards. We need to do that consistently to win in the future.
Chaz: How do you think your team will fare the rest of this season?
QM: It's much too early to predict. We have a lot of work to do to paly together and learn the various sets. And really, all we can do is work hard every week in practice and then exhibit a laser focus on each foe we play against. I'll probably continue to explore different player combindations to see who can play best together. While I would like to see us win as many pre-conference games as possible, I really think it's most important for us to use these games to get our team playing together as a strong unit so we can surprise some people when we get into Great West Conference play.
Chaz: You've been in Bakersfield since early this summer, what are you doing outside of basketball?
QM: (Laughing). Is there a life outside of basketball? If there is, I certainly haven't found it. There's just been so much to learn about the team and my assistants, recruiting, the university, and begin getting to become familiar with the conference. Everything else is just going to have to wait.
Chaz: OK Coach, thanks for the interview. Let's hope there are many more opportunities for more of these post-win interviews.
QM: You have that right, Chaz!

The Bakersfield Bee, per usual, doesn't do any interviews of me or anyone on the team. I'm not sure how they are developing their stories, maybe it's just a phone call from a student or someone else who attended.

[PointGuard]

Game #5; Nov. 30, 2011; Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (3-10) at CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (1-3)

The Bulldogs are a solid team. They get most of their scoring from their guards, but they have strong rebounders throughout their lineup. Based on the strength of his last game, I’m going to give Kevin Hill a start at SF.
We jumped out to a 23-2 lead in the first 8-1/2 minutes of play. At that point we had allowed the Bulldogs to hit just 1 of 15 shots and we had outplayed them in every aspect of the game. Louisiana Tech finally began hitting some shots but we continued our offensive onslaught, finishing the half with a 49-22 lead. We hit 56% of our FG attempts and 4 of 6 from 3 point distance. We out-rebounded the Bulldogs 24-15 and made only 3 turnovers to Louisiana Tech’s 6. Greg Bivins had 11 points and Mike Settles 10 to lead our scoring.

While we cooled off in the 2nd half, we continued to play well and Louisiana Tech was never able to make a threat.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-73, Louisiana Tech-52. CSU Bakersfield season record: 2-3.

Scoring leaders: Bivins-15, Settles-12, Powers-8, Chase-8.

Rebound leaders: Chase-7, Rivera-7, Powers-6, Settles-5, Bivins-5.

Assist leaders: Bivins-6, Settles-3.

Player of the Game: PG Greg Bivins-15 pts, 5 reb, 6 assists, 1 steal (and only 1 turnover).

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: C Mike Settles-12 pts (hit 6 of 7 FG attempts), 5 reb, 3 assists, 3 steals.

Other notes: We held a huge shooting advantage, hitting 49% of our shots to just 31% for Louisiana Tech. We played solidly on the boards, grabbing 39 rebounds to the Bulldogs 35. We had a 14-10 turnover advantage. 11 of our players scored in this game.

[Wayne23]

On a roll!

[PointGuard]

Game #6; Dec. 3, 2011; St. Mary’s Gaels (3-4) and CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners

While not a huge crowd, tonight’s attendance was definitely an improvement. I guess two consecutive wins at home will do that.

We led throughout most of the first half, but St. Mary’s rallied behind SG Jeremy Celuck’s 15 points to take a lead. We finished the half down by a score of 27-26. Our leading scorer was Greg Bivins with 7 points. St. Mary’s deliberate style seemed to take us out of our game.

We stayed close throughout most of the 2nd half but couldn’t capture the lead. St. Mary’s pulled away a little at the end of the game as their defense continued to prevent us from mounting a sustained rally. We plummeted back down to earth following the two previous wins.

Final Score: St. Mary’s-66, CSU Bakersfield-58. CSU Bakersfield season record: 2-4.

Scoring leaders: Greg Bivins-14, Mike Settles-11, Jeremy Jones-9

Rebound leaders: Bivins-10, Johnson-6, Jones-5.

Assist leaders: Bivins-3.

Player of the Game: St. Mary’s SG Jeremy Celuck-24 pts, 8 reb, 3 assist, 2 steals, 1 block.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: Greg Bivins-14 pts, 10 reb, 3 assists,

Other notes: Neither team shot well…we hit just 36% and St. Mary’s hit 40%. The primary reason we lost was that we were unable to control Jeremy Celuck, who scored and rebounded like a demon and played outstanding defense.

[Wayne23]

PG, just to help me with my game strategy, what did you try against Celuck- type of D, did you double him...

[PointGuard]

PG Greg Bivins is our only senior and our most talented player. A few pro scouts have done some initial checking on him, but none have yet shown much interest. Although he's scoring 13.7 ppg and rebounding well for a PG (4.7 rpg), his assists are low (3.2 apg) and he’s been turning the ball over more (4.7 per game) than his assist average. That plus being only 6' tall, have left him about ¾ the way down the ranking list of over 400 college players that will be available to the pros this coming draft, far below where he would need to be to get drafted and most likely too low to get picked up as a free agent.

Two sophomores and three freshman (from Florida, Syracuse, Maryland, Connecticut, and Notre Dame) make up the Top 5 highest ranked pro prospects thus far.

[OOC: I’m running this DDSCB2 association in conjunction with a DDSPB3 pro association (with fictional players).]