PC Coach Hodgson and the Installation of a New "Culture" — Kevin Stacom

PC Coach Hodgson and the Installation of a New "Culture" — Kevin Stacom

Main Theme: The Initial installation of “Culture”

One of the many changes that have taken place in college basketball over the last few years is the NCAA's permission for schools to conduct sanctioned practice sessions for 8 hours a week over an 8-week period.

Coach Bryan Hodgson mentioned during a press conference this past week that initially, when this new program was introduced, it was directed that those eight hours a week had to be strictly divided into two parts. Four hours for on-court instruction and play, and four hours for strength and conditioning.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

This year, the delineation of allocating time between those two segments within the eight hours per week is now totally up to the coach's discretion

Right now, Coach mentioned that he is coincidentally following the previous allotment of time equally between play and strength/conditioning, finding that to be the most effective

The general feel and purpose of the presser was a continuation of the “getting to know you” process of a new coach in such a pivotal position at the school, and, as was alluded to later, for the City that the College shares its name with, and also for the State at large

This press conference was taking place at the midway point of the eight-week summer workout sessions.

The group of media people in attendance were aware of that, so of course, they were generally interested in what the coach’s thoughts were after working with some of these new players for the first time in the flesh.

After fielding a question about the general health and condition of the players now here, which was very positive, as Hodgson said, minus the usual bumps and bruises, veteran Channel 10 Sports reporter Frank Carpano asked what was probably on the forefront of everyone’s mind.

“Seeing these guys on the floor now for 5 weeks, what are your impressions now seeing them live…”

Coach’s main response to the question was that he was very pleased with this new group of players in that they all seem to be getting along very well, that they all seem to be genuinely enjoying each other’s company, showing signs of a very good work ethic, and we’re building our culture.

Hodgson compared it to buying a “vacant house”, that when he showed up there were no players there (only Ryan Mela retained from last year’s roster) - how you have to tear it down and build everything from scratch.

He qualified his positive statements with the fact that “If you have a coach that is thrilled with how his team looks in the summertime, you better run” -relaying how building from scratch is not always pretty in its initial stages, but how this is a fact of life now for all programs in the current state of college basketball.

But Coach’s update included the fact that although he feels there’s a long way to go, right now “Our attitude, our effort, our consistency, all those things are where they need to be.” He went on to mention that with those things in place, you have a shot. That you want to see improvement and that he is, in fact, seeing that.

 

Clyde Walters

Thanks to a follow-up question by Carpano, “Has anyone jumped out at you as better than advertised?”

One of the more interesting comments came from Coach Hodgson’s surprisingly candid response:

“Our one true freshman, Clyde (Walters), has been phenomenal-he’s made a big jump out of the gate. He was originally slated to be in next year’s class… so when I talk about him being a surprise, we knew how good he was, he was a top 100 player in the country,… but, to leave your high school class a year early and to have an impact on practice right away… that’s impressive.”

It was impressive that Hodgson said that about the lone true freshman, Walters, the 6’7”, 190 lb small forward/guard from Pinson, Alabama. Especially since this team, like many top programs around the country, is composed predominantly of very experienced juniors and seniors (3 juniors, 5 seniors).

The only other freshmen are Dink Pate, who turned 20 years old this past March, a 6’8”, 210 lb guard, with 3 years of NBA G-league experience, and incoming Italian player, Leonardo Marangon, 6’7”, 190 lb forward, who has played some form of professional European basketball since he was 15, and who will be 21 years old this November.

It’s safe to say, I think, even at this early juncture, that coach Hodgson is not given to much hype, so his comments lead me to go back and try to watch more film on Walters.

The more you see, the more you like him, and he appears to be the type of young talent that is just starting to come into his own, so there is an upside not yet realized. He looks to be yet another long, athletic wing, with a very good feel for the game. He has a good handle for his size, is a good, and at times creative passer, has a good nose for the ball, with the ability to be a another valuable versatile defender, who can get to the hoop off the bounce, or create space for what appears to be an improving jump shot All those attributes documented in his numbers this past year playing for the AAU Alabama Fusion:

19.9 points; 8 rebounds; 3.4 assists; 1.8 steals

That combination of scoring, rebounding, passing, and defense is what makes analytics proponents and evaluators put you towards the top of your class

This leads to another point emphasized by the Coach when asked about any determinations so far on what the starting lineup might be.

“No,” - saying it’s way too early. What is being firmly established is an intense atmosphere of healthy competition. The simple mathematical competition for minutes at the interchangeable guard/wing position should be otherworldly with all the versatility among the 10 players that fall into that category.

Coach plainly stated that he wants to create an atmosphere of competition where all 13 guys have a chance of starting or getting meaningful minutes based upon work ethic and performance- “I want guys breathing down each other’s necks”

Coach said that when he was recently asked by a national media person who he thought his starting 5 might be this upcoming season, “I sent him 2 or 3 guys at every position. I have no idea. I want healthy competition throughout the summer.”

Another thing that Hodgson mentioned in the course of the press conference that I thought was interesting was that part of the process of choosing players from the portal is that you try to choose some players that might be better than what they’ve been able to show at their previous stops. That basically, the style of play, for instance, that you intend to utilize compared to where he was coming from, will bring out more of the player’s potential.

I thought perhaps this idea might apply to the three new bigs, who right now are the current X-factors on the current roster:

Jacob Bannarbie, R-Jr, F, 6’9”, 235 lbs (UNLV)

Samson Aletan, Sr., C, 6’10”, 223 lbs (Yale)

Arrinten Page, Sr., C, 6’11”, 245 lbs (Northwestern)

 

With the uptempo, aggressive, defensive, impending style of play, perhaps these three players might be able to incur much better numbers than they previously registered

When Coach Hodgson once again interjected the theme of establishing the right “Culture”, I was struck by his seemingly off-the-cuff, understated, concise, Hemingway-esque definition:

“Culture to me starts with the accumulation of good people.”

Wow! I thought to myself, if that was original, he should copyright that. Coach continued, “I think we checked that box”

Of course, this more than implies that the research involved in selecting this group of players goes beyond analyzing raw numerical statistics and hours of watching reams and reams of film. As best they can Coach and his staff spent a substantial amount of time determining the personalities and characters of potential prospects that can fit into the culture he wants to establish.

Another point that Hodgson brought up is that although he was raised in the upstate New York Buffalo area and began his young coaching career there, he also has most recently spent a number of years coaching basketball in the part of the country where the oblong ball takes big precedence over the round ball- Alabama, Arkansas, Florida.

“I’ll tell you this, talking about doing media in the summer, that doesn’t happen for basketball programs in football schools. It's really exciting for me to have media availability on July 6… 99% of programs, that doesn’t happen”

Even though Coach was still struggling to get equilibrium back from the jet lag returning from a recruiting trip in Turkey, he was able to display a sense of humor that will serve him well in the present environment, which he is obviously embracing.

He went on to describe how he appreciates how, when he’s out in public, it’s such a special place, how people come up to him all the time, he gets their excitement and their passion about the team, humorously describing some of the comments he gets like, “You better win!”

And with a smile, he explains, “I didn’t come here to lose!…and we’re not going to be outworked. This place has everything you need to win”

The more I research this roster, there appears to be a common thread amongst this collection of talent-there is an interesting redundancy for the most part of athleticism, length, the willingness to defend, combined with a group of relatively high Basketball IQ’s

It will be interesting to see how Coach Hodgson and his staff combine all these interesting talents into a coherent team

With their depth, they will definitely be able to come at opposing teams with waves and waves of defensive pressure, resulting in a lot of collective offensive opportunities out on the open court, and a good amount of exciting “small ball” for our 2026-2027 season”