WhoÂ’s Bret Vandergard and whatÂ’s he done for us lately?

[PointGuard]

Game #4, Nov. 24, 2019: Missouri State Bears (2-1) at Louisville Cardinals (1-1)

Bears' Claws Trimmed

Last night the Missouri State Bears traveled to Louisville to take on the ACC’s Louisville Cardinals. But the Bears came out on the short end of a 70-66 score.

The Bears came out firing and took a 10-2 lead. The Cardinals struck back though and the first half became a tussle. At the end of the half, the Bears held a slim 36-33 lead. SG Kareem Masiello led Missouri State’s first half offense as he knocked down 12 points.

As the Cardinals zeroed in on their shooting, Missouri State’s shooting went stone cold midway through the 2nd half to allow Louisville to take a 9 point lead with 6 minutes to play. Missouri State made a gallant effort to comeback but didn’t have enough time to catch the Cardinals. Louisville outshot the Bears 53% to 47%. But the biggest advantage the Cardinals held was that they got to the line 15 more times and scored 10 more points on free throws than Missouri State.

After the game Coach Vandergard said, “We played well but just couldn’t stop their two big interior guys.” PF Eddie Terrell scored 17 and C Russell Robinson hit for 15 points for Louisville.

Final Score: Louisville—70, Missouri State (2-2)—66.

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Kareem Masiello-18 pts, 3 assists, 5 reb, 1 steal,1 block; SF Quinton Asbury-11 pts, 3 reb; PG Brent Gregory-9 pts, 2 assists, 1 reb; C Marquis Hollins-8 pts, 3 assists, 5 reb, 5 steals.

Player of the Game: Louisville’s C Russell Robinson-15 pts, 1 assist, 8 reb, 1 steal.

[JMD]

I must say I’m not happy. Our son Shawn was recruited by Coach Dawes Johnson. Dawes made 3 trips to our home and promised that Shawn would be the starting SG for the Eagles this coming year if he signed. Shawn was a big star at Lewis & Clark H.S. in Spokane and had been recruited by highly regarded Gonzaga as well. We based our decision on Johnson’s promise that Shawn would start immediately and get a lot of playing time. If we’d been willing to watch Shawn ride the bench for a year or two, we would have had him accept the Zag’s scholarship offer.

Then at the end of last season, the Eagles fired Johnson. OK, Dawes Johnson certainly hadn't set the world on fire. But who did EWU hire as head coach? Some guy named Bret Vandergard, who’s never been a head coach before, so no experience, no record. Shortly after arriving on campus, Vandergard called and talked with Shawn as well as his mother and me. We pressed him to honor Johnson’s promise. While he said he looked forward to working with Shawn, he would only say that Shawn would get a fair shot at earning the starting spot, but that right now, every position in the starting lineup was up for grabs.

I was pissed and after the call, told Shawn that he should turn down EWU’s scholarship and try to latch on somewhere else. Even though Gonzaga has filled all their scholarships, there were plenty of other schools in the hunt for Shawn and some of them still have available scholarships to fill.

Shawn’s always listened to his mother and me, but this time said he didn’t want to change and that he planned on sticking with the Eagles. That led to a pretty big argument, but he wouldn’t budge.

I plan to call Vandergard and let him know we EXPECT Eastern Washington to honor Johnson’s promise, and if he doesn’t, I will be talking with both Swede Olaffson, the AD, and the university’s president, Clement Morgan. I’m vice president of Valley Bank and we contribute plenty to the university…and that can continue or can be turned off.

The King of Pop is now the president of Valley Bank?

[PointGuard]

The King of Pop is now the president of Valley Bank?

Heck, he had enough money to buy the whole bank so why not become president.

[PointGuard]

Game #5, Nov. 28, 2019: Missouri State Bears (2-2) at Oakland Golden Grizzlies (1-3)

Well, we now know that Oakland isn’t a place where the Raiders play and Oakland University is located in a place called Rochester Hills and Rochester Hills is sort of a suburb of Detroit. Who says college basketball players don’t get an education? We also know that late November is cold as hell here in Michigan.

The Golden Grizzlies had a 24-6 record last season and were ranked #22 in the polls plus made their way into the NCAA Tourney.

This will be my 5th start. 2 of my previous 4 starts went well and I scored 26 and 18 in those two game, but then the other two were nightmarish. In one I scored 7 but only played 14 minutes before I fouled out and the other was an abomination in which I was held to 2 points and Coach V only kept me on the court 16 minutes. Obviously, I need to be more consistent, but the coaching staff keeps telling me not to be overly self-critical. They say it takes time to make the jump from high school ball to Division I college hoops. I’m feeling more comfortable with my teammates all the time.

I’ve not made many turnovers in the previous games, but damned if I didn’t throw the ball away on our very first possession of this play. But two possessions later I drew my defender into a foul. It took us 5 minutes before we scored as we shot like there was a lid on our basket. After 8 minutes of play we were down 12-4 having turned the ball over 5 times and hitting just 1 of 7 shots from the field. I stayed in the game for the first 11-1/2 minutes and led our scoring with 5 points, but it was an ugly 11-1/2 minutes as we hit just 29% of our shots and let Oakland pull away to a 26-12 lead. With 3 minutes to play in the half, I got back into the game, but we trailed 33-18 by then. We finished the half in a 39-25 hole. In the locker room Coach V got on us about shot selection, not surprising after we dropped in just 22% of our shots. But he was confident that we could come back in the 2nd half. I scored 5 points in the first half, but our leading scorer was Kenneth Grandison with 7 points.

In the early going of the 2nd half we began to whittle down Oakland’s lead and at the first media timeout were down 43-33. I played the first 9 minutes of the 2nd half, but when I went to the bench for a breather, we will still had a 52-39 deficit. I got back into the game with 7-1/2 minutes to go and we were behind 57-41. We made a run but we started it too late and came up a little short. If we could have hit better than 28% of our shots, we would have won this game. But give it to Oakland…they led from wire to wire.

Final Score: Oakland—65, Missouri State (2-3)—59.

Leading players for Missouri State: PF Kenneth Grandison-14 pts, 2 reb, 2 steals; SG Kareem Masiello-9 pts, 7 reb.

Player of the Game: Oakland’s C Lamont Allison-18 pts, 9 reb, 2 blocks.

[PointGuard]

(KSMO Nightly News sports report)

After the Missouri State Bears returned home yesterday, I caught up with Coach Bret Vandergard as the team came off the plane returning them from a disastrous 2-game road trip that again put their season record under .500. Here’s my interview of Missouri State’s supposed basketball messiah:

SP: Hey Coach, are you happy to be back home?
BV: (a cold stare) Well yeah, home is always a good place to be.
SP: What happened in the past 2 games? In the first game your team played well in the first half and then tanked in the 2nd half and then in the next game, the Bears looked like they were asleep in the first half and much of the second, and only a late run make it look as if the game was close.
BV: Look Steve, most sports reporters would know that playing on the road in NCAA Division I basketball is tough. The fact that the guys made both of those games close is a positive, not a negative. Louisville regularly has a top-flight team and Oakland is coming off a great season with their team mostly intact.
SP: Yes, but I thought you were supposed to turn this team around? And yet, here we are looking at what is beginning to appear to be yet another mediocre season.
BV: That’s your assessment, Steve, not mine. I think this team has made steady progress the past 2 years and this season will be yet another positive step along the road to ultimate success.
SP: Hasn’t the move of Brent Gregory from the 2 to the 1 and the resultant benching of Bart McCain been a failure? Gregory’s production is down and McCain’s court generalship is sorely missing.
BV: It’s much too early in the season to draw any conclusions, but I think Brent has performed well at the point guard position and he’s a big reason freshman Kareem Masiello is leading our team in scoring. And Bart has been getting a lot of playing time, so his importance to the team has not been diminished in the least. Importantly, those three can spell each other meaning we have a solid backcourt pair on the court throughout the game. Additionally Cleveland Brown is coming into his own as a solid backup at the 2.
SP: Well, none of your big men have stepped up to lead the team. It seems you’re playing the 4 and 5 positions by committee and none of the committee is comfortable or productive with that approach.
BV: The actual fact of the matter is that we have a group of big men, all of whom can step in and do what’s necessary. As you should know, Steve, playing inside is physically demanding. Being able to spell our big men with the depth we have inside before they get too tired is a real plus.
SP: Quinton Asbury has been doing pretty well at the 3 position, but you just don’t have depth there to take over when he’s off the court.
BV: Wrong again, Steve. Kenneth Grandison, not only plays well as a power forward but also has the shooting skills to ably fill in at the 3 and Brent Gregory can perform well at any of the perimeter positions. Then there’s walkon Marcus Jones who has been improving week-by-week in practice and will likely get more playing time as the season progresses. Obviously another key cog, but not until next year, will be small forward Quin Bruton who has to sit out this season since he’s a transfer player.
SP: So are you saying that this team will finally make it to the Big Dance this season?
BV: I’ll leave the predictions up to those like you looking in from outside. We just have to play the games as they come up and do the best we can and then let the chips fall where they may. But…now I have to head out of here with my team. (turns and walks away)”

Well, Bears fans, there you have it. Coach Vandergard doesn’t have any idea about how this team will do. And the question remains…will this coach ever be the savior he was thought to be when he arrived in Springfield? You know, it’s not what have you done in the past for someone else, but what have you done for us lately, Coach Vandergard!

[Wayne23]

Friggin' reporters! They don't know squat but they do all they can to make us coaches look bad!

[PointGuard]

My son Tommy is experiencing emotional problems that stem from his being kidnapped while we were all still in Washington state. He’s been acting out with his teachers and especially with me. His grades are horrible. He’s getting into fights and has become a sullen little kid. Nothing I have done has improved things. I’ve even had a child psychologist trying to work with him, but Tommy has been totally unresponsive.

Last night I had a long talk with Bret, who seems to have more influence over Tommy than anyone else. Bret really wants to help, but he’s not home much since he spends so much time working with the team while they are in town and then being out of town for the many away games.

[PointGuard]

Game #6, Dec. 1, 2019: USC Trojans (3-2) at Missouri State Bears (2-3)

I’m really happy to have been able to schedule a team like USC to play us at home. I’m flying out tomorrow morning for a quick trip to Italy to visit some of my wife’s family. But I wouldn’t have missed this game. SG John Clayton is averaging 14.6 ppg for the Trojans thus far this season.

We hit 9 of our first 10 shots (including 6 from beyond the arc) to leap ahead 24-5. Our guys kept the pressure on and by the half we led 46-22. We hit 64% of our shots, held a 19-7 rebounding advantage, had block 4 shots, and held USC’s shooting to 32%. SG Kareem Masiello scored 11 points and SF Quinton Asbury dropped in 10 points.

Our shooting cooled in the 2nd half and USC’s shooting improved. While our margin decreased, we never were seriously challenged and came away with a big victory over a strong team. That will keep me smiling on the flight all the way to Rome.

Final Score: Missouri State (3-3)—71, USC—57.

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Kareem Masiello-10 pts. 1 assist, 5 reb, 2 steals, 1 block; SF Quinton Asbury-14 pts, 1 reb; PG Brent Gregory-10 pts, 6 assists, 1 reb.

Player of the Game: SG Kareem Masiello-10 pts. 1 assist, 5 reb, 2 steals, 1 block.

[PointGuard]

Game #7, Dec. 6, 2019: Missouri State Bears (3-3) at Wofford Terriers (1-2)

Wofford’s top scorer is C Michel Sanders who is averaging 22.0 ppg. We’ll try to reduce that average tonight. Just before the game, there was a rumor that another terrorist act had occurred, but we tried ignoring it to keep our players’ minds on the game.

The refs teamed up against us and called 11 fouls in the first 8-1/2 minutes of play, putting the Terriers on the line 15 times. After trailing by 7 points, we took a 27-25 lead with 7:15 remaining in the first half. But the refs continued to call foul after foul against us and forced us to play a very soft defense. That resulted in allowing the Terriers to hit 72% of their FG attempts. We trailed 45-40 at the break. C Marquis Hollins scored 11 points but was limited by 3 fouls.

With the refs continuing their effort to parade Wofford players to the foul line in the 2nd half, I got called for a technical. At least Wofford missed that free shot and then on the ensuing possession had a shot clock violation! Midway through the half the two teams were tied 68-68. We took a small lead, but the Terriers hung tough and together with the refs fought back to go up 89-85 with 1:23 remaining. After calling a timeout, we freed up Brent Gregory for a 3 that knifed through the net to cut the lead to 89-88. Wofford took the ball to the hoop but missed their shot and we rebounded. We set up a pick and roll that went nowhere, so Kareem Masiello lofted up a 3 that was off the mark. Wofford rebounded and tried to play out the clock, but Brent Gregory stole a pass with 11 seconds to go and we called a time out with just 8 seconds to go. After the time out, Bart’s pass was picked off by Wofford and they drove down court for a meaningless dunk. Tough way to lose a game. But our ultimate demise was the refs sending Wofford to the line 41 times where they scored 15 more points than us. We scored 10 more points in the paint, 13 more second chance points, and 12 more fast break points. But home town refs are home town refs.

Final Score: Wofford—91, Missouri State (3-4)—88.

Leading players for Missouri State: PG Brent Gregory-14 pts, 1 assist, 1 steal; C Marquis Hollins-13 pts, 2 assists, 1 reb, 2 steals (in 11 minutes of play due to foul trouble); C Joey Jones-10 pts, 1 assist, 3 reb, 2 steals, 1 block.

Player of the Game: Wofford’s C Michel Sanders-21 pts (11 of those points were scored at the line), 1 assist, 6 rebounds, 1 steal.

[PointGuard]

December 11, 2019:

Nearly a week ago, we learned that while on vacation, Buzz Moriarity, our AD, sustained serious injuries during a terrorist incident in Rome. The severity of the burns he incurred will keep him in the hospital for an extended time plus require an extremely lengthy recovery time that likely will necessitate multiple surgeries.

I was finally able to speak with him today on the phone. I’m trying to make arrangements to get him back to the United States for hospitalization and treatment as soon as possible.

He told me he will need to step down as AD immediately. I responded that we will always have a job for him when he’s ready to return. We discussed possible candidates to take over his job. The most obvious would be Ansel Adamson, the Assistant AD, but Ansel is months from retirement and not the right person for the job anyway. Buzz advocated hiring Bret Vandergard as AD. He said of all the coaches at Missouri State, Bret is the most qualified to handle the job, and even in the short time he’s been here, Bret has become intimately familiar with most all aspects of our athletic programs. Buzz said that Bret also gets along well with our other coaches and administrators.

I subsequently gave it extensive thought and discussed it with several trusted sources and finally decided to offer the job to Bret. Bret expressed his appreciation for the offer and said he was gratified that Buzz and I had the confidence in him to take on the job, but that opined, I’m just a basketball coach.” I told him everyone is just “something” before taking on new responsibilities and asked him to give it some consideration and let me know.