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

[PointGuard]

Several of last year's players got some positive news when the Pro Mock Draft report came out:

Jerell Brown projected as 17th pick (6th highest ranked SG)

Marcus Evans projected as 27th pick (9th highest ranked SG)

Randy Durham 9th highest ranked PG

Isaac Bryson 10th highest ranked SF

The Pro Draft is right around the corner, so we'll see how it works out for them.

[PointGuard]

We only have two scholarships to fill this year, so we’re going all out on reports and camps. We buy the basic reports for all regions and also the National report. We also decide to attend not only the Las Vegas Revue but also the Indy Elite Camp. We’ll focus on trying to pick up a big man and a SF, but ultimately will go for the best available player we can land.

Since we have a new recruiting coordinator this year in 3rd assistant coach Jon Carroll, he and I meet frequently to try to get on the same track. I’m surprised by how outspoken he is, but since I hired him to handle recruiting, I decide I better listen to what he has to say. Even though he doesn’t have much experience, he’s a sharp guy.

I would like to focus on high school recruits this year and would like to pull off a coup by signing a highly-ranked player. Jon strongly suggests we look a little deeper in the rankings since our school and our conference have very low prestige rankings. He feels that highly ranked high school seniors will get offers from the big schools and just overlook us. I know this is the case, but still don’t want to pass over players if we find they have any interest in us. In particular there is a very highly-rated senior in California this year, so I figure we may have a better chance getting him to consider us. Jon finally agrees to give attention to him and other top-rated players, while I agree that we also need to work on some high schoolers a bit lower on the totem pole. Otherwise we are likely to be shut out during the summer/fall recruiting season and likely have to go after Juco players next spring.

[PointGuard]

Darius Williams, who scored 16.4 ppg in his freshman year at New Jersey Tech is transferring. There also is an excellent PG who had two great years at West Virginia. Either would be a great addition, but I don’t have any scholarships to offer (and I don't want to cut a player just to try to get one of these guys), so we won’t be going after any transfers this year.

[PointGuard]

Round 1:

1. Detroit: F Ryan Marley, No. Carolina
2. Utah: F Athirson de Jesus, Brazil
3. Sacramento: F Patrick Bright, Duke
4. Charleston: G Michael Haslem, Indiana
5. Toronto: F Jason Whiting, Arizona
6. Memphis: G Steve Wright, Kansas
7. Indiana: C Donnie Horton, Kansas
8. Cleveland: G Gamal Turner, No. Carolina
9. Washington: G Kiwane McFall, Louisville
10. Atlanta: F Kenny Simmons, Michigan St.
11. Golden State: F Mathew West, Michigan St.
12. Phoenix: G Donte Boone, Arkansas
13. Houston: G Issiah Covert, Kentucky
14. Los Angeles (L): G Brian Aylsworth, Louisville
15. Chicago: G Matt Cook, Indiana
16. Orlando: G Jermaine King, Arkansas
17. Milwaukee: G Tony Gaskins, No. Carolina
18. Toronto: F J. R. Degala, Notre Dame
19. Portland: C Travis Wright, Michigan
20. New Orleans: F Jermaine Gilbert, Florida
21. Minnesota: G Michael Gilmore, Georgetown
22. Toronto: G Jimmie Kosik, Connecticut
23. Chicago: G Jerell Brown, CSU Bakersfield (talking heads thought he would go higher, but feel his work ethic is deficient; “he spends too much time playing Xbox”)
24. Denver: F Matt Fletcher, Duke
25. Boston: C Brian Sarchet, Memphis
26. San Antonio: F Jabari Myers, Florida
27. Dallas: G Chris Costa, Maryland
28. Memphis: G Heath Walls, Michigan
29. Oklahoma City: F Chad Tarver, Stanford
30. Miami: F Reggie Noble, Tennessee

Round 2:

1. Brooklyn: G Albert Songalia, Louisville
2. Atlanta: F Tim Fishback, Kentucky
3. Sacramento: G Randy Durham, CSU Bakersfield (talking heads felt this was a little early)
4. Memphis: G Corey Walker, Indiana
5. Indiana: C Brooks Dare, Iowa St.
6. Los Angeles (L): F Jeremy Brown, Oklahoma St.
7. Cleveland: F Will Smith, Notre Dame
8. Oklahoma City: F Eddie Williams, Alabama
9. San Antonio: G Kevin McCrary, California
10. Golden State: F IsaacBryson, CSU Bakersfield (talking heads thought he would go earlier)
11. Phoenix: G Chucky Tucker, Purdue
12. Cleveland: C Andy Mitchell, Kentucky
13. Houston: F John Fizer, UCLA
14. Los Angeles (L): G Marcus Evans, CSU Bakersfield (talking heads felt this was a good pick, but that he won’t score much)
15. Miami: G Clifford Nichols, Kansas St.
16. Orlando: F Jonathon Jameson, Stanford
17. Milwaukee: G Russell Holst, St. Bonaventure
18. Brooklyn: F Larry Carney, Alabama
19. Portland: G Jamal Boozer, UC Santa Barbara
20. New Orleans: G Ralph Izzo, Missouri
21. Minnesota: F Lavar West, Florida
22. Los Angeles (C ): G Sam Noyola, Louisville
23. New York: G Greedy Hall, Seton Hall
24. Denver: G Kyle Moore, Mississippi
25. Boston: F Virgil Williams, Seton Hall
26. San Antonio: C Michael Whitehead, Mississippi St.
27. Dallas: F Mike Herr, Purdue
28. Philadelphia: F Hayward Mast, Oklahoma
29. Oklahoma City: C Michael Freeman, Stanford
30. Miami: G Michael Curry, CSU Bakersfield (talking heads thought this was a terrible pick)

Getting 5 of our players drafted was quite an honor for CSU Bakersfield.

[PointGuard]

Here's how the "Roadrunner 5" each did in their 5-game summer league for the NBA teams to which they were drafted:

(Name, team, then minutes-points-rebounds-assists for each game and then averages in brackets)

Jerell Brown, Chicago, 26-7-1-2; 25-6-2-4; 25-15-2-2; 24-14-2-0; 29-2-5-1; [25.4-8.8-2.4-1.8]

Randy Durham, Sacramento, DNP; DNP; 1-0-0-0; DNP; DNP; [1-0-0-0]

Isaac Bryson, Golden State, 19-0-1-2; 25-11-6-3; 19-8-2-1; 18-10-2-0; 21-2-5-4 [20.4-6.2-3.2-1.8]

Marcus Evans, LA Lakers, 20-13-1-1; 21-10-2-0; 16-4-1-1; 17-4-2-1; 22-9-1-1; [19.2-8.0-1.4-0.8]

Michael Curry, Miami, 18-6-1-3; 19-4-0-2; 19-4-0-4; 19-9-1-2; 24-12-4-1; [19.8-7.0-1.2-2.4]

[PointGuard]

I met Hector Ruiz midway through my first season as coach here at CSU Bakersfield. He was a big fan of Roadrunner basketball who had been turned off by the team’s performance under my predecessor. Even though the team wasn’t all that successful in my first year here, he began coming back to our games and let me know that he thought we were on the right track. Subsequently he became a major booster.

I think that my being a Catholic and going to the same church as him also helped his transformation.

He’s a guy who is a self-made man whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when Hector was a teenager. As a young adult, Hector went into business for himself. He made some good business decisions early in his career and eventually was able to buy up some oil well sites in the area. He parlayed this into becoming a significant independent oil producer. He now has a net worth bigger than the number of commas I’m familiar with.

As our program blossomed, he began making some big time donations to various funding programs at CSU Bakersfield and his contributions were the key to our facilities upgrade last year.

After the NBA summer league and free agency periods, he stopped by my office. He doesn’t do that often, so I wondered what was up. It turns out he was steaming. He felt the pros had hosed over some of the Roadrunner draftees. Only 1 of the 5 stuck with an NBA team, and the other 4 weren’t placed on a Development League roster either so were now unclaimed free agents. In particular he was incensed by how the Sacramento Kings had treated Randy Durham. The Kings drafted Randy early in the 2nd round, put him on their summer league roster, and then totally ignored him. They didn’t put him into 4 of their 5 summer league games and only played him a single minute in the other game.

“What is that, QM? The freakin’ Kings are freakin’ dunderheads. Hell, they should have at least given him a chance to prove himself.”

I agreed with Hector about Randy getting a raw deal and that I also was surprised that 4 of the draftees didn’t even get a chance to display their abilities in the Development League. But I reminded Hector that few made it to the NBA and the pros were likely to give a player from a prestigious college or conference preference.

That didn’t settle Hector down any. He was still ripping mad.

He said “I wish I could go up to Sacramento and kick some Kings management and coaching butts. If no team picks up Randy Durham as a free agent, I’m at least going to offer a Randy Durham a management position within my company.”

I was very happy to hear that because Randy is a good guy who worked hard while here, not only on basketball but also in the classroom.

[PointGuard]

In July we gradually began to get a number of high school seniors interested in CSU Bakersfield, even though the interest level was not strong.

In August we tried solidifying our position with those who were showing interest, but in truth made little headway.

The week of September 11, we visited 4 high school recruits (2 SF and 2 PF) and made scholarship offers to two of them. The two with scholarship offers didn’t show any interest, so I withdrew the offers and gave them to a PF who is now very interested and a SF.

The week of September 18, we visited the two new players we made offers to plus 2 others. Late in the week we found out that we were #2 on the PF’s top 10, but that he had chosen Stanford. It wasn’t surprising since he has a 4.0 GPA, but still it was disappointing since he’s got tremendous skills. We moved up to #2 for the other player (the SF) that we had a scholarship offer pending so hopefully we can convince him this coming week.

The next week we redoubled our efforts on the SF and offered the remaining scholarship to a C. I visited those two plus 2 others. The two to whom we had issued offers chose Minnesota and Nevada.

With our recruiting in shambles, on October 2 we made a last ditch offer to a high school PF and decided to hold the remaining scholarship until spring. I visited the PF and 3 other players to try to drum up interest. The PF decided to go to Utah.

So we flailed away and struck out on our fall recruiting efforts. I need a beer!

[PointGuard]

Pre-Conference Schedule

@ Clemson
PRINCETON
OREGON STATE
@ #24 Cincinnati
VCU
@ #21 New Mexico
MISSOURI STATE
GEORGE MASON
BAYLOR
#22 Iowa State
@ #20 Florida State
CHARLESTON
@ Fresno State

Conference Schedule

UTAH VALLEY
@ TX Pan American
@ Houston Baptist
CHICAGO STATE
@ Seattle
NEW JERSEY TECH
@ North Dakota
@ Utah Valley
TX PAN AMERICAN
HOUSTON BAPTIST
@ Chicago State
SEATTLE
@ New Jersey Tech
NORTH DAKOTA

The pre-conference schedule is challenging, especially since I don't really know what kind of a team I will have on my hands because of so many new players. But I figure there is nothing to be gained by taking the easy road. We tried scheduling more talented teams at home but the ones we scheduled were the best willing to take us on our court. I don't blame ranked teams from avoiding us at home...they have nothing to gain and a lot to lose by playing us on our home court.

[PointGuard]

Since we have 3 other PG's, I decide to redshirt freshman PG Tremain Jennings. He's not likely to get many minutes, so the time to mature and work on his game should help him compete strongly next year. Initially Tremain tries to dissuade me from redshirting him. But when I explain it will ultimately allow him to get more minutes on the floor during his upcoming 4 years of eligibility, he agrees that it's the best course of action.

[PointGuard]

Hector stopped by again and invited me out to lunch. We went to Longhorn Steak Restaurant and while drinking our beers and peeling peanuts and dropping the shells on floor, Hector said, “QM, I got something to tell you. Other than my wife, you’re going to be the first one to hear this.”

I sat back and replied, “What’s up, Hector? Nothing’s wrong with you, is it?”

“Hell no, QM. I’m healthy as a horse. What I’m going to tell you will be making the news tomorrow, though.”

I looked quizzically at him and responded, “The news? You buying up some more oil fields or production facilities?”

Hector laughed and said, “Nah, done that too much already, QM. You know I was really upset that 4 of our 5 players weren’t given a fair chance by the NBA. Well, I just couldn’t get over it. There wasn’t much I could do with any of the NBA teams, but there was something I could do. And I’ve done it. I’m buying the Bakersfield team in the NBA Development League. My first act will be to change their nickname from the “Jam” to the “Drillers”. But my second act will be a little more dramatic. I’m going to cut 4 players from the Drillers roster and get 4 free agents to replace them. And you know who those new players for my Bakersfield team will be? Durham, Bryson, Evans, and Curry.”

After the shock of his announcement settled, I said, “Damn, Hector, I can’t believe you are doing this. You know the Development League teams don’t make any money, don’t you?”

Hector waived his hand dismissively, saying, “Ehh, that don’t matter at all, I got more money than me and my wife and my kids can spend in 10 lifetimes. And yeah, the 4 guys might never make it in the NBA, but they sure are going to get a chance to see if they can or not by playing on my team. Did you hear that the Bulls sent Jerell Brown to their Development League team, the Sioux City Skyforce? I’d like to get him on the Drillers also, but I don’t think the Bulls will easily part with him. Plus I think he’s going to do well with the Skyhawks and win his way back onto the Bulls roster so he doesn’t need my help.”

“Well, Hector, you sure are a man of surprises,” I acknowledged. “You’re going to have at least one fan at your games…at least as many of them as I can attend.”

“Hey, QM, you can come up to the owner’s box anytime you want. Actually, I think having these local boys on the team is going to draw quite a few fans.

Also, I have a lot of ideas of ways to lure fans to the games and make things interesting once they are there. Win or lose, attending a Drillers game is going to be fun.”

“Hector, I have no doubt that if anyone can pull this off, it’s you. Buena suerte, mi amigo.”

Hector guffawed and said, "So QM, you see that coming to Bakersfield and mingling with us Mejicanos did you some good after all...after all these years here you at least know 4 word in Spanish. But enough about me and my playing Don Quixote....tell me about this team of unknowns you have this year."