MSU PHOTO
As Will Wade winds down his final preparations for his much anticipated second season the wildly popular, much sought after and often-quoted McNeese basketball coach knows he has a tough act to follow.
Wade’s Cowboys are coming off a historic hoops campaign that flipped the program from perennial doormat to conference champion. He’s responsible for the Cowboys’ first NCAA Tournament appearance in 22 years. You know the rest of the story by now.
A perfect 18-0 home record that set attendance records compiling a never before seen 30-4 overall mark. The team raced through the Southland winning both the regular season and conference tournament championships earning a twelfth seed in March Madness. Wade won SLC Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Coach of the Year awards.
But that was then and this is now.
CHRISTIAN SHUMATE MSU PHOTO
If you listen to the preseason hype surrounding Wade’s new collection of talent mixed with six returning players, this McNeese team is projected to be even better than last season’s crew. You begin with the Cowboys being picked (by coaches and league SIDs) as the overwhelming choice to win the SLC. Twenty one of 24 total votes were first place votes for McNeese. I guess the three other votes that went to Nicholls State were to make sure this thing wasn’t totally one-sided or too biased.
Three Cowboys made the preseason All SLC first team including last year’s superstar Christian Shumate and two first year McNeese players Quadir Copeland, a transfer guard from Syracuse and UL-Lafayette transfer forward Joe Charles. Two more Pokes secured spots on the all-conference second team, returning guard Javohn Garcia and senior guard Brandon Murray, who transferred in from Ole Miss.
Add in the fact that for the first time in school history McNeese garnered votes to crack the national AP preseason Top 25 poll.
There is your hype and hope. Wade said the media creates a “false reality and he deals with real reality.”
“We have to play the games. Everybody looks good on paper,” Wade noted during his first preseason media session. “We haven’t talked one time about the AP Poll and getting any votes. I will congratulate those kids that got voted to all-league teams but that will be the extent of our conversations on any of that.
“It’s not going to happen because somebody writes it on paper or someone says it’s suppose to happen. We have to go on the court and make it work and make it happen. We’ve progressed to the point that we are predicted that high with that many good players. I’m happy for those guys (the All SLC picks).”
Don’t get the wrong impression; Wade isn’t shunning the media attention. He likes it and wants it because he is working to build a program that’s relevant in the mid-major ranks with lasting traction. The progress and foundation Wade and his staff have made in such a short time is nearly unmatched considering the state of disrepair they found the program in, the low status of the Southland in basketball circles and the hangover Wade was dealing with from those NCAA sanctions.
Wade comes from the camp that believes you can (and probably will) turn over a roster every season due to the transfer portal. He doesn’t shy away from it. In fact, he relishes the challenge and process of talent acquisition. He brought in nine new players with upwards of three to four being projected new starters to run alongside Shumate.
“The guys who came back and the guys who came here, came here to do better and more than we did last year. If you stay the same, it’s not good enough. If you want to do something you’ve never done then you have to work harder than you’ve ever worked,” Wade says.
What McNeese has never done is win an NCAA Tournament game.
Wade has won in the NCAA as an assistant coach and head coach at both VCU and LSU. He knows all about the climb and how to get there. He explains that March Madness and winning in the tournament is a “dream and not a goal.” In his thinking, the goal is working to get better everyday.
This team clearly has more talent and depth than last season’s SLC champions. That may be hard to fathom coming off a record-setting 30-win year, but it’s true.
Copeland is a big 6 feet 6 inches tall guard who can score from the perimeter and in the block. Sincere Parker, a St. Louis transfer, is a six feet three inches tall shooting guard with top level skills. Joe Charles, a 6 feet 9 inches tall agile forward, earned All Sun Belt honors while starring for ULL. Providence transfer Alyn Breed is another 6 feet 3 inches tall guard. Breed who’s been here since last season, is working to get healthy and will be a consistent double-figure scorer. Added size and front court skills will come from both Jerome Brewer, a transfer from A&M-Commerce, and 6 feet 9 inches tall forward Bryant Selebangue. Wade says Selebangue has been a nice surprise in preseason camp and better than they thought.
Shumate says he did some research on the newcomers before they arrived on campus and knew they had considerable skills. “I knew they were a bunch of talented guys before they got here and knew they were talented. We brought in some older guys, too. Everything is what was supposed to be with those guys.”
One of those older guys that’s a familiar name for LSU fans is Brandon Murray. Murray is a big 6 feet 5 inches tall senior guard who spent a year with Wade as a Tiger before transferring to Georgetown and then spent last year at Ole Miss. He is a mature, experienced guy who revels in playing defense and doing the grind and gritty work it takes to win on and off the court.
“He has stepped into more of a leadership role the last month or so. He’s been phenomenal and our team sees him as one of our leaders vocally and how he works. He has done a really, really good job,” gushed Wade.
Meshing all of this new talent with the high-level returning players has been an interesting process for the coaching staff and the team. Wade lamented a few weeks ago that his returning veterans were not holding the new guys accountable to McNeese’s entrenched high standards. He got his point across eventually like Wade can do and everyone appears to be aligned.
This was not a situation where Wade brought in Porsches to mix with Pintos. The players who were already here were established, high level players and in the case of Shumate, the SLC Defensive Player of the Year and one of the most dynamic stars in all of mid-major basketball.
Garcia earned All SLC Tournament honors and is a multi-skilled starter from last season. Shooting guard DJ Richards is instant offense off the bench and steady senior guards Mike Saunders and Omar Cooper add critical assists and play-making skills on both ends of the floor.
Getting 13 to 14 different personalities on the same page over the course of a short off season doesn’t happen with a flip of a switch. The returning players know that because they had to do the same thing last year. There will be bumps in the road and maybe some bumping of heads. “We have some guys coming in from last year and seeing what it takes with all the details. We have a plan and structure. The structure works and you have to buy into that. It’s really just everyone buying into what it takes to win,” Shumate said.
When you win the way McNeese did last season, so convincingly (second in the NCAA in scoring margin at 17.7 points) it doesn’t take very long to change perceptions. Wade’s confidence, swagger and successful track record was a major backdrop to the turnaround.
A worst-to-first scenario, 30 wins, a championship banner and a NCAA berth means the Cowboys won’t be sneaking up on anyone this season. Shumate admits they will get everyone’s best effort this season because of their success. “The preparation going into games will have to be on the minor details and stay consistent on all levels and play hard.”
After the lopsided loss in the NCAA West regional to Gonzaga back in March, Wade said they had to get bigger to match the size and strength of teams in the post-season. In comes Selebangue, a front court specialist at 6 feet 8 inches tall, 225 lbs; Jerome Brewer, a 6 feet 9 inches tall forward; Charles a 6 feet 9 inches tall, 215 lbs forward; and Copeland, who excels both from the perimeter and block, stands at 6 feet 6 inches tall. The versatile Shumate has already proven he plays way above his 6 feet 6 inches frame.
Wade feels you don’t have to have twin 7 foot towers to be bigger and play large. “Everyone looks at getting big is you have to go get this center. No…you have to have size positionally. We have better positional size across the board.” He points to Garcia a 6 feet 3 inches tall guard and of course Murray and Copeland, both 6 feet 5 inches and up.
According to Wade, it’s nearly impossible to replace the perfect combination of talent and work ethic that came with last season’s star Shahada Wells. But from sheer scoring and play making, Breed and Parker will be special assets in the backcourt. Both were slowed this off-season with injuries but are expected to be ready for the season opener at South Dakota State.
It was a struggle all off-season for assistant coach Brandon Chambers to secure non-conference games both home and away, but the resulting schedule is better and tougher than last year. South Dakota State was a NCAA Tournament team last year. The Cowboys will meet second ranked Alabama and Mississippi State teams on the road and are in for a trip to UL-Lafayette.
North Texas and Santa Clara will be challenging home matchups. In fact, Wade calls Santa Clara from the West Coast Conference the best team to ever play in the Legacy Center to date. “ The non-conference schedule will be tougher but I think it will get us ready for the league. I think the league will be a lot better. I think there’s four or five teams that will be in the top 175 to 200 in the country when it’s all said and done.”
The trip to El Salvador and the three international games there was a nice treat for the team but really didn’t show Wade anything because of the low level of competition. The ensuing weeks of practice have focused on fundamentals, learning his system and working on different player rotations. They will find out quickly where this team stands with the long road trip to South Dakota State but right now with a few weeks before tip off it’s just the grind to get better.
“We are still a work in progress. Not as good as we can be but we are not as bad as we were,” Wade surmised.
When the mood strikes him, Wade can joke and jab with local media like a stand up comic getting heckled. But there is no joking around with him when it pertains to his team’s preparation, practice effort and what he refers to as work habits. He knows the high talent level of this team because he did the work vetting, scouting, analyzing and signing these guys. But in Wade-speak there is a unique difference between talent and talented.
“We got talent. I’m not hiding behind that. Are we talented? Do we handle the details, do we do the extra stuff as well as we need to right now? I’m not sure we do that as well as we should. Talent can multiply or divide, too. You have to work extra and have great attention to detail. The extra and the details are the difference between talent and talented. Just having talent won’t get you very far,” explained Wade.
Other coaches in the state are now welcome to use this Wadeism between “talent and talented” and how the ‘ed’ actually means the extra details.
I plan to use it myself.
Wade is an old school encyclopedia of coaching and basketball insights and mantras. He readily admits early in his coaching career it was about success and getting to that next bigger and better job. After what he described as being “humbled” after the NCAA probe and his firing from LSU, Wade says he appreciates everything so much more. Building a team. Coaching. Relationships and being a part of McNeese athletics and the Southwest Louisiana community.
The 41 year old veteran coach is comfortable here and has been patient dispelling chatter, speculation and rumors of job offers and how long he intends to coach McNeese. His contract was sweetened at some point last season with a salary boost plus incentives and in turn McNeese increased the contract buyout totals.
HEAD COACH WILL WADE
MSU PHOTO
That was done to protect the athletic department’s top coaching asset and show Wade he is needed and appreciated. He responded with a record setting season, a championship and an excited fan base never seen around McNeese basketball since the Joe Dumars’ era of the 1980s.
The core of Wade’s program and basketball inner circle centers on work, preparation, truth and respect for each other and the game. Who would know that better than the introspective Murray who wanted to finish his collegiate career with the man and the coach where it started years ago?
“Coach Wade is a truth teller. You can’t ask no more as a man. At all times you want to be told the truth. No one wants things to be sugarcoated and anything like that. That’s where the respect comes from. There are no lies between you and he will tell you the truth all the time. With his program you just have to buy in and it will help you as a player and a man,” said Murray, giving his two-time head coach the ultimate compliment.
Wade has assembled a strong, versatile new cast of Cowboys for the “Willy the Kid and the Bayou Bandits” sequel. I haven’t seen the trailer yet but it may just have scenes where this team loses more games than last year because of those challenges early in the schedule. Regardless, I suspect McNeese will be cutting down the nets again in the Legacy Center come March.
Catch Rick Sarro’s commentary and latest opinions on Soundoff on CBS Lake Charles on Tuesday and Thursday at 10:05 pm and on Saturday at 11 pm. Follow Rick on Twitter @ricksarro.
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