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

[PointGuard]

Game #31; Mar. 16, 2015: (#10 seed) Marshall Thundering Herd (20-11) vs #20 (#7 seed) CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (25-5)

Marshall finished 4th in Conference USA then lost in the championship game of the conference tournament. They primarily employ a 2-3 zone defense. SG Nic Haginas is averaging 15.1 ppg. He shoots well from all over the court.

The lead juggled back and forth in the initial stages of the 1st half as both teams shot well, but our defense then throttled them so we could gain an advantage. We held the lead throughout the final 10 minutes but Marshall never gave it and kept things close by hitting 5 of 10 threes. We hit 43% of our shots against Marshall’s 37%. We forced 10 turnovers by Marshall and only made 4 ourselves. The score at the half was 35-30 in our favor. Randy Durham led our scoring with 7 points. Nic Haginas scored 11 for Marshall.

Nothing much changed in the first 8 minutes in the 2nd half, but with the score 45-39, Jerell Brown was charged with his 4th foul at the 12:08 mark. The refs nicked us with our 7th team foul at 11:39…Marshall had been charged with none at that point. With 10 minutes to play, Marshall tied the score at 45-45. With 5 minutes to play, Marshall hit a jumper from the key to go ahead 53-51.

We trailed 61-59 with 1:29 to play. We tied the game at 0:49 on a jumper by Darius Dunn. Marshall missed their shot, we rebounded and I called a time out with 31 seconds to play and 30 seconds on the shot clock, telling my team to hold onto the ball so we could call a time out with less than 10 seconds to play to set up a final shot. During the ensuing time out, we set up a pick and roll. The play didn’t work, but Jerell Brown took the ball on the right of the key, cut over to the foul line, turned and sank the 15 foot jumper with 1 second on the clock.

Final Score: CSU Bakersfield-63, Marshall-61. CSU Bakersfield season record: 26-5.

Scoring leaders: Jrl Brown-15, Dunn-10, Durham-9, Saunders-8.

Rebound leaders: Jrl Brown-6, Lyde-5, Bryson-5, Durham-5.

Assist leaders: Durham-5, Jrl Brown-4, Bryson-3.

Player of the Game: SG Jerell Brown-15 pts, 6 reb, 4 assists, 2 steals.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PG Randy Durham-9 pts, 5 reb, 5 assists, 1 block.

Other notes: Revealing how close the game was, we hit 42% and Marshall hit 41% of our shots. They held a 38-27 rebounding advantage, but we offset that with an 18-9 turnover advantage. With his shot right before the buzzer, Jerell Brown showed how he can deliver in crunch time. Rather than jump for joy when he hit the basket, I could only exhale a sigh of relief.

But pulling out this first victory for CSU Bakersfield in an NCAA Tournament was a huge deal for our team, school and fans. Playing in Syracuse has made it difficult for many of our fans to be there, but the TV ratings for our game were high in Bakersfield.

Nic Haginas hit 6 of 9 shots for 17 points for Marshall.

[PointGuard]

Game #32; Mar. 18, 2015: #20 (7th seed) CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners vs #9 (2nd seed) Arizona Wildcats

Nice to win our opener but now we take on a team with a storied history in NCAA Tournaments. Arizona won the Pac-12 Conference title easily this year, but then inexplicably lost their opening conference tournament game to a real underdog, so maybe there’s hope. They roughed up Troy (71-50) in their opening NCAA Tournament game.

We think we might be stronger at the guard positions, but Arizona has a lot of strength up front, particularly their center Kellii Barone who averaged 15.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.7 spg, and 2.4 bpg. PF Tyler Robertson hauled down 8.3 rpg while scoring 8.8 ppg. Barone is from Australia and just a freshman, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t jump to the pros this summer.

No one gives us a chance to win this game, so hopefully we can sneak up on Arizona.

We led 2-0 and 4-2. While we never had the lead again in the first half, we kept close throughout the half. Although we shot poorly (31%), we surprisingly controlled the boards (19-14) and had one fewer turnover than the Wildcats. We left the court trailing 32-28. Randy Durham led our scoring with 7 points. If we are to have a chance, though, we are going to have to shoot much better in the 2nd half.

We tied the game at 32-32 after 1-1/2 minutes of play in the 2nd half, but then our shooting went cold and Arizona edge ahead again. But we cut their lead to 41-40 with 8:14 remaining. We again cut their lead to one with 4-1/2 minutes to play, but our shooting and turnovers kept up from pulling ahead and let Arizona move out to a 53-46 lead at the 2:09 mark. We still couldn’t get down our shots and we lost, but we put up quite a fight.

Final Score: Arizona-56, CSU Bakersfield-48. CSU Bakersfield season record: 26-6.

Scoring leaders: Lyde-10, Jrl Brown-10.

Rebound leaders: Lyde-7, Pastner-6, Evans-6, Jrl Brown-5.

Assist leaders: Lyde-4.

Player of the Game: Arizona’s C Kellii Barone-13 pts, 8 reb, 1 assist, 3 blocks.

Coach’s Pat on the Back Award: PF Ali Lyde-10 pts, 7 reb, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block.

Other notes: The debilitating defense by both teams made this game look ugly. We shot 30% but Arizona only hit 38%. We made 16 turnovers, but Arizona made 18. We edged the Wildcats on the boards, 36-33 and scored more points in the paint (22-16). This was just a fiercely fought game the entire way. Neither team would give in. We can take a lot of pride in knowing we took Arizona down to nearly the very end of the game with a chance to pull a major upset. But it wasn’t in the cards tonight. So, we head home...but with our heads held high.

[PointGuard]

#4 (#1 seed) Duke-72, #6 (#2 seed) Kentucky-59

#13 (#5 seed) New Mexico-63, #10 (#3 seed) Michigan State-59

[PointGuard]

#4 (#1 seed) Duke-69, #13 (#5 seed) New Mexico-63

[Wayne23]

Great first round win, great season!

[PointGuard]

Our final possession in the Marshall game was a fun one. We called a TO with 31 seconds to play to set up to play for the last shot and, surprise of surprises, my guys actually did NOT shoot (I'd had a hard time getting them to obey "play for last shot" orders all year long). Then after calling the time out with 9 sec to play to set up a pick and roll play, the play evolved but we couldn't get off the shot, so Brown just too the ball to the key and put up the game winner with 1 second to go. VERY exciting.

Arizona's defense in our 2nd round game was I-N-T-E-N-S-E...even our free-shooters (like Jerell Brown) were intimidated and being forced to pass up shots repeatedly. And when our guys DID shoot, they just couldn't get good enough shots to make many. But our defense was nearly the equal of theirs. The Wildcats got 12 more free throws and made 5 more points from the line that did we. Otherwise, the score would have been even closer.

[CoachC]

stop coaching so hard!

[PointGuard]

With one scholarship filled and 2 remaining scholarships to fill, I offered scholarships to a high school PG and a JC SF. In March I visited them plus two other recruits. The two that we offered scholarships to and other weren’t interested in playing for us. The fourth recruit, a high school PG from California became very interested after the visit.

In early April I visit 4 players: a high school PG, a JC PG, a high school SF, and a JC PF. The high school PG and the JC PF show real interest, and I decide to offer scholarships to both of them. The other two aren’t interested.

The next week I re-visit the two I offered scholarships to and also a JC PG and a high school SF.

Both players accept our scholarship offers. Our new scholarship players will be:

PF Awvee Calton, 6-8 JC So, Chicago, IL, 2.4 gpa. 19.1 ppg, 4.7 apg, 7.1 rpg, 2.0 spg, 3.1 bpg. Excellent inside shooting and scorer, Excellent rebounder, Very good passer, Strong shot blocker, Although not particularly athletic, he’s a hard working kid. Ranked #29 (#8 at position) in country, Overall rating: A.

PG Lionel Benjamin, 6-0 HS Sr, San Bruno, CA, 3.2 gpa (1080 SAT). 16.0 ppg, 4.9 apg, 4.0 rpg, 2.3 spg, 1.9 bpg. Excellent passer and very good ball handler, Very good scorer and outside shooter, Not a leader but doesn’t cause problems. Ranked #314 (#k67 at position) in the country. Overall rating: B.

PF Mike Dotson, 6-7 HS Sr, Mariposa, CA, 2.9 gpa (1080 SAT). 15.9 ppg, 4.5 apg, 10.3 rpg, 1.7 spg, 2.9 bpg. Very good rebounder and defender, Strong inside shooting and very good scorer, Strong athleticism, Tremendous work ethic, Decent showing at Indy Elite Camp. Ranked #513 (#101 at position) in the country. Overall rating: B.

My plan at the beginning of recruiting was to sign a PF, PG, and SF and preferable high school players. After signing PF Mike Dotson early, his rankings dropped significantly, but I’m pleased because of his defensive and rebounding strength and his scoring ability. While it may take a while for him to develop, I think he will become a key player for us during his 4 seasons with us.

My efforts to sign a top-rated high school PG fell through, but I think we got a good one in Lionel Benjamin. He’s a particularly strong passer and ball handler plus scores well. Even as a freshman, he could be a good back-up to Randy Durham at PG next year.

After I was unable to sign a highly rated SF, I had a chance to sign a reasonably good SF. But when JC PF Awvee Calton began showing a high degree of interest in our program, he was just too good to pass up. With his proven scoring and rebounding skills, he will be a great replacement to graduating senior PF Ali Lyde. We may well red-shirt Mike Dotson to develop his skills more so he will be ready to take Awvee Calton’s place when he graduates.

[PointGuard]

2nd Team All-American: Jerell Brown

Big West Conference Player of the Year: Jerell Brown

Big West Defensive Player of the Year: Ali Lyde

Big West 1st Team All-Conference: Jerell Brown

Big West 1st Team All-Conference: Ali Lyde

[PointGuard]

Jerell Brown comes into my office and plunks himself down on my couch. We chat for a while, then he says (sort of out of the blue), “Hey Coach, you aren’t gonna leave this program and move on to a new head coaching job, are you? You know there were plenty guys telling me to jump ship here and put my name in for the NBA draft after my freshman and sophomore year, but I didn’t.” He says it sort of in a joking manner, but I think he’s not really joking. Actually I’m flattered that he wants me to stay on here. Rather than answer him directly, though, I reply, “Well Jerell, I don’t think Duke or UCLA are going to offer me a job this year.”

Six teams show interest in having me take over their basketball programs: Jacksonville, Idaho, Buffalo, Texas-Arlington, Elon, and TX Pan American. Three of them (Jacksonville, Idaho, and Buffalo) have significantly higher prestige than does CSU Bakersfield, but I decide to stay on at Bakersfield.

I also make no changes to my assistant coaching staff.