'Rider basketball heats up
Written by: | 13 Jan 2009
Basketball fans prepare for fast-moving action as the men and women B-ballers hit the courts. Coaches Brad Clifford and Howard Brown give an early season primer.
The women
Brad Clifford, the Lady ‘Riders basketball coach, looks ahead to the long basketball season with optimism and realism.
So far the Lady Riders are 1-1 for their official season score and 3-2 overall.
“We do better in every game and practice,” says Clifford.
One of Clifford’s strategies is for the Lady Riders to give as much as they can during practice. They keep a rigorous six day a week practice schedule.
“Each player gives it their all. I appreciate and love them for that, they get along, have good rapport,” says Clifford.
The season lasts from October until March and includes pre-season scrimmages.
“We don’t want to peak too early. January and February will be the right time,” says Clifford.
“We don’t want to peak too early. January and February will be the right time,” says Clifford.
“College basketball is a lot more competitive than high school, much more intense,” says freshman guard Lerrin Cook.
Freshman Kiara January from Spokane, WA is a point guard. One thing she has learned is how much more physical college basketball is than in high school.
“You get bumped and you go flying: Welcome to college,” says January.
A freshman team
This year the Lady Riders’ team includes nine freshman out of 11 players. “We’re starting from scratch in a sense,” says Clifford.
Having a quick learning curve is part of being a student athlete at a junior college. The Rough Rider men’s basketball team also starts the year heavy on the firstyears. They have eight freshmen and six sophomores.
Freshmen have to learn how to play at a higher level of intensity and focus than they did in high school, according to Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Howard Brown.
Talented players in high school have to learn how play against ahtletes on the same level as themselves, according to Brown.
“Freshmen have to develop mentally. They may be ready physically and talent wise, but they have to be mentally ready” for a long 40 minute, high intensity college game, says Brown.
The men
Brown’s plan for his team is similar to Coach Clifford’s.
“Play games, compete, practice,” says Brown.
So far this year the men’s team is 0-2 in the conference. Their competition has been against teams that are in the top 25 of the country.
“When we play them again, we’ll be ready because we’ve played them already,” says Brown.
The men’s basketball team practices four times a week. They spend two days pre-game preparing for the upcoming game. They spend two days after a game correcting what they didn’t do right in the game, according to Brown.
Players come to a junior college for two reasons: to improve their game in order to transfer to a four-year college or to improve their grades to transfer, according to Brown.
The men’s basketball program works to help individual athletes improve their grades with grade monitoring, tutoring and study groups.
At the away game in Utah, they did homework on the road.
“We set up study groups. It was to get ahead and have fun and have a bonding experience,” says Brown.
The last regular game of the season for both men and women’s teams is an away game on Feb 27 against Central Arizona. The teams both hope to make it into post-season play and the playoffs.
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