{"id":41534,"date":"2018-10-25T14:53:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T19:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=41534"},"modified":"2018-10-25T14:53:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T19:53:56","slug":"tiger-mbb-and-wbb-rely-on-experience-and-leadership-as-2018-19-season-draws-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=41534","title":{"rendered":"Tiger MBB and WBB rely on experience and leadership as 2018-19 season draws near"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY BY MAKENNA ALLEN<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s t-minus two weeks until both the Fort Hays State University men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball seasons kick off. \u00a0Though the women\u2019s team plays in Division I exhibitions Oct. 28 and Nov. 1 at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, respectively, the official season for both teams begins the second weekend in November. \u00a0On Friday, Nov. 9, the women take on Southwest Minnesota State at home. That same day, the men match up against the University of Sioux Falls in Marshall, Minnesota during the NSIC-MIAA Challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

With this date fast approaching, both teams have begun official practices. \u00a0These practices have seen the addition of a few new members as both squads have 11 returning players. \u00a0The women\u2019s team will incorporate three new freshmen while the men bring in one freshman and two transfers. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For women\u2019s Head Coach Tony Hobson, this returning talent has allowed for a smooth start to the pre-season. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we got off to a good start this year because we have so many returners,\u201d said Hobson. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the 11 players returning so any time you have that many people coming back that have been here a year, or two years, or sometimes even three years, you tend to get off to a little quicker start because they know some of the stuff you\u2019re doing. Compared to other years, we\u2019re probably a little farther ahead.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Hobson has made few changes to his practices, the story is different for the men\u2019s team. Head Coach Mark Johnson plans to use the loss of last season\u2019s leading scorer, senior Hadley Gillum, to slightly alter the team\u2019s offense. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe played everything to Hadley Gillum and Brady (Werth) so we were more inside oriented,\u201d said Johnson. \u00a0\u201cWe still need to get the ball inside to Brady and our other big guys but we\u2019ve opened up the floor a little bit and are trying to change a little bit of what we\u2019re doing offensively and let our guards have more space this year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With this modified offense, Johnson looks to forward Werth and Marcus Cooper as the season\u2019s key players. Last season, Werth trailed only Gillum as he finished the 2017-2018 season with 342 points, averaging 12.7 points per game. \u00a0Cooper followed Werth with 267 points. However, the head coach also feels his team\u2019s new players add a new depth to the roster. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we have more options this year, more pieces to work with and guys that might be able to bring some things to the table for us,\u201d said Johnson. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He cites 6\u20197\u201d forward Freddy Bitondo, a Division I transfer, as the team\u2019s new source of athleticism. \u00a0The transfer from Sam Houston State University and Montreal, Canada native played in 28 games and started once for SHSU last season. <\/span><\/p>\n

Another transfer player, guard Devin Davis joins the mix. \u00a0Davis joins the Tigers from Allen Hancock College and hails from Vallejo, California where he earned All-Western State First Team Honors. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Forward Gilbert Peters is the only true freshman member of the men\u2019s team this season. \u00a0During his high school career in Montezuma, Kansas, Peters was a first-team All-State selection from The Topeka Capital-Journal. \u00a0Gilbert averaged 16.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in addition to leading his team to its fourth state championship this past March. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGilbert Peters from South Gray is a big kid 6\u20197\u2019\u2019, about 265. \u00a0He really thinks he can become a very good player, like all freshmen,\u201d said Johnson. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just his first couple of weeks here. He\u2019s trying to figure it out but he\u2019s doing a good job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The men\u2019s team isn\u2019t the only program to incorporate new freshmen into its mix as Hobson and the women\u2019s team welcome three new players as well. \u00a0This year, guards Hailey Walker from Gilbert, Arizona, Cydney Bergmann from Concordia, Kansas, and Kinly Grubb from Odessa, Missouri will all take to the court. \u00a0Hobson believes that these players will introduce new talent to the team when it comes to defense and rebounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all freshmen and they\u2019re all really good athletes. \u00a0I think the one that will probably see the most action at least early will be Hailey Walker, a freshman from Gilbert, Arizona. \u00a0She\u2019s a point guard\/off guard so she\u2019ll get some time early mainly because we need another point guard,\u201d said Hobson. \u201cWe only had one so the opportunity\u2019s there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even as these new players begin to integrate into the team, Hobson looks to the consistency of returning talent as a portion of the team\u2019s success. He expects the team\u2019s lone seniors — point guard Carly Heim, and last season\u2019s leading scorer, Tatyana Legette — to take the team to victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Last season, Legette led the Tigers with 434 points over the course of the season. \u00a0She averaged 13.2 points and 8 rebounds per game. Heim trailed close behind Legette, averaging 11.8 points per contest. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even as these crucial players return for the 2018-2019 season, Hobson feels that overall, the team is strong because of all of its 11 returners. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI really like our depth and think that\u2019s going to be a strong point for our team,\u201d said Hobson. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As practice continues, both teams will continue to integrate the old and new in hopes of creating programs that will build upon the teams\u2019 successes of last season. \u00a0Only time will reveal the progress of this integration. Stay tuned. Basketball season draws near. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY BY MAKENNA ALLEN It\u2019s t-minus two weeks until both the Fort Hays State University men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball seasons kick off. \u00a0Though the women\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":41535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Tiger MBB and WBB rely on experience and leadership as 2018-19 season draws near","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3394,7349,3395],"tags":[10567,12310,10937,4401,12313,12309,12303,69,604,106,12306,12311,3479,12312,5653,12314,12003,12305,775,12304,12307,12308,206,4399,103,1495,290,182,160,207],"class_list":["post-41534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-basketball-sports","category-sports","category-womens-basketball-sports","tag-tigerpride","tag-allen-hancock-college","tag-brady-werth","tag-carly-heim","tag-cydney-bergmann","tag-devin-davis","tag-division-i","tag-fhsu","tag-fhsu-athletics","tag-fort-hays-state-university","tag-freddy-bitondo","tag-gilbert-peters","tag-hadley-gillum","tag-hailey-walker","tag-kansas-state-university","tag-kinly-grubb","tag-makenna-allen","tag-marcus-cooper","tag-mark-johnson","tag-nsic-miaa-challenge","tag-sam-houston-state-university","tag-shsu","tag-southwest-minnesota-state","tag-tatyana-legette","tag-tiger-media-network","tag-tigermedianet","tag-tmn","tag-tony-hobson","tag-university-of-kansas","tag-university-of-sioux-falls"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/My-Post.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41536,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41534\/revisions\/41536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}