The leaves have started falling and the air is beginning to have that sweet fall breeze. We all know what that means—basketball season is fast approaching. The Winthrop men’s and women’s basketball teams have released their schedules for this year. It is going to be a great season for the Eagles. We sat down with the coaches and players to get the inside scoop on the upcoming season.
Everybody is excited for the season, including Head Coach Pat Kelsey of Winthrop men’s basketball.
“This time of year I’m excited for everything. I’m excited to get going, you know? I’m really excited about our team this year, I think you can go way down our roster and still have potent productive players,” Kelsey said. ”I feel really good about putting anybody in the game and getting productive basketball productive play out of everyone of those guys, I do think our overall strength is our depth.”
There is equal excitement about Winthrop women’s basketball team, especially from Head Coach Lynette Woodard.
“I’m excited for everything. Our new class of freshman, my returning class of ladies; people to help push and tutor [the freshman] in the sport, so that’s very exciting. Our ladies are working hard giving 100% every day, encouraging one another and their commitment and dedication are ingredients in what we’re trying to do,” Woodard said. ”I’m very positive in what’s going to come out of that. You never know, we had ten wins last year which was more wins than the last three years, so we’re definitely headed in the right direction of Big South champs and definitely getting better and stronger as a program.”
Some of the men’s basketball players weighed in on the excitement too.
I am really excited about our non-conference schedule, we have really tough games away and home, and it’s gonna be a great experience for the team and to grow together, I love this year’s team. I think we all really like each other and we are going to have a great season,” Michael Anumba, sophomore said.
“I feel that we are a great team. We are one big family and we all love each other. Coach reminds us everyday, ‘25 strong’, which includes the players coaches and managers . That is the truth we are 25 strong and can be a very good team,” Russell Jones Jr., freshman, said.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have a very strong ongoing confidence for the upcoming season, even up against some of our biggest competition.
“I just think I’ve come to have so much respect for our league for the coaches in the Big South, for the caliber of play in the Big South. It’s the type of league where there are no off nights. You have to be ready every single night because top to bottom anybody could beat anybody,” Kelsey said.
”Obviously if you look at some of our, if you wanna call it, markee games, in our non-conference schedule, there is unbelievable competition,” Kelsey added, naming schools such as Duke, St. Mary’s, Coastal and a few others. “Our schedule is tough. The guy that taught me how to coach used to say, ‘you can’t sharpen your teeth eating oatmeal’, and I think that applies to our schedule and rigorous competition we have this season that’ll get us ready for the Big South.”
The players have been improving themselves and sharpening their skills to compete with the competition.
“[I’m] personally preparing for the season by working on my game everyday and getting better everyday. I am confident in coming in and helping the team win in anyway I can,” Jones Jr. said.
“I’ve been getting a lot of shots up, as I want my teammates to trust me to knock down shots consistently and also I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning work. I really believe that we are going to dominate the Big South this season, we are very talented and led by a great coaching staff,” Anumba said.
“I am preparing for the season by lifting hard and getting my body right, conditioning hard so that I can play our style and not get tired, and constantly being in the gym before and after practice to make sure my game is growing,” Chandler Vaudrin, junior, said.
Like many of us, the coaching staff is super stoked for the revival of the Winthrop/Coastal rivalry.
“I was here my first five years when Coastal was in our league and I realized my first year how intense that rivalry is, how tradition–rich that rivalry is, how impactful it is for the community [and] for our student body and how excited they get about it, and it was unfortunate when they left the league that that rivalry wasn’t going to continue.” Kelsey said. “For us to be able to work out a four year deal with Coastal to reignite that rivalry is something that’s going to galvanize our fanbase, our student body and our community in general. I think it’ll do that for [Coastal] as well. So I think that it’s a great thing and hoping it’s something our students get very excited about.”
“It’s exciting playing against a team that has been our rival for so long, and in addition, a very close friend of mine from England plays at Coastal Carolina. I’m very excited to play them,” Anumba said.
Winthrop fans should be looking forward to the start of the season, waiting to scream “Rock the Hill” and cheer on our fellow Eagles from the student section.
“This is what these guys worked for the entire off–season. These guys go through those hundreds if not thousands of hours in the gym, in the hot gym in the weight room, in the summer leagues, they work so hard so that when the lights come on for real, they can show how much improvement they’ve made, from individuals and collectively as a team,” Kelsey said.
“So like Forrest Gump said, ‘Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.’ I almost feel like each season is that way. Every season is its own being, circumstances are different, faces change, strengths and weaknesses change from year to year. [It’s all] part of the fun part and part of the challenge,” Coach Kelsey added.
Graphic: Elizabeth Talbert/ the Johnsonian
